The Wars of Legends 1 - The Apotheosis of a Lost Child
by Nameless2210
Summary: [Fem!HP] [AU from end of GOF] [Time Travel fic] [Femslash!] Harry Potter was always more than he seemed. A Freak? A Wizard? A Hero? These were but pale reflections of her true destiny. This is the story of how she embraced her true calling as a Goddess. [X-posted on AO3]
1. The Graveyard

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter One: The Graveyard**

**Beta: **

* * *

In a dark and overgrown graveyard with the black outline of a small church visible in the distance on one side and a hill on the other with the outline of a fine old house on the hillside, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, found himself tied up against a large marble headstone.

Restrained and with his wand taken away from him, the young wizard was helpless as he watched the Dark Lord Voldemort be resurrected by Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew. He was unable to do anything as he watched the wizard who had killed his parents regained a body. Terror filled him as Voldemort rose from a cauldron of foul looking potion that his servant had prepared for him in a skeletally thin body with pale white skin, dark scarlet eyes with cat-like slits for pupils, a hairless, lipless chalk-white face that resembled a skull that had snake-like slits for nostrils, and large hands with unnaturally long fingers like spider's legs. All the result of a ritual that the man who had once been one of his parents' best friends had used his blood to complete.

He was struck dumb by fear as the Dark Lord summoned his Death Eaters before proceeding to admonish them for their lack of faith in him and failure for working towards his return.

Harry's numb shock was shattered however when a searing pain, more intense that he'd ever felt, tore through his body. He screamed like he'd never screamed before. Thankfully though, the pain was fleeting.

"Do I have your attention now, Potter?" Voldemort hissed with a dark smirk, his wand still flickering with the lingering red embers of the Cruciatus Curse he'd just used to gain Harry's attention.

Harry just spat in his direction, though he missed by a mile.

The Dark Lord just chuckled, "How rude, Potter? Perhaps I should teach you some manners. _**Crucio!**_"

The teenager could only scream his throat raw once more as the torture curse ran its course. Amazingly, while still intense the pain was more tolerable, or more precisely Harry found himself more able to detach himself from it. It didn't stop hurting like hell though.

"Ready to be civil now, boy?" Voldemort asked, his voice radiating threat.

Harry just nodded. He really didn't want to be subjected to another Cruciatus.

"Good, good," the snake-like man said with a grotesque smile on his lipless face. "Now as I was trying to tell you, you ungrateful brat, using your blood in the ritual that revived me has led to one of my suspicions being confirmed."

The young wizard couldn't help but be confused. What in Merlin's name was Voldemort talking about?

He raised his head to ask just that, hopefully in as taunting a way as he could but was preempted by another Crucio that had him howling for mercy. Something that a part of his mind noted he was in too much pain the last two rounds under the curse to even manage.

As Voldemort released his curse's hold on him, Harry thought he might have even seen an impressed look on the dark wizard's face for a brief moment at his feat. Though he wouldn't rule it out as a hallucination caused by overexposure to the torture curse.

"I think, Potter," Voldemort said, all malice, as he moved his wand through a series of complex movements in preparation for what must be a fairly complicated spell. "That rather than telling you, I'll just show you."

As the disturbing orange light of the Dark Lord's spell flew at him, the Boy-Who-Lived tried his best to brace himself for whatever it caused. The pain it struck him with he could handle, he'd felt worse under the Cruciatus just moments ago, but the way his body _changed _threw him off and whatever ability to retain his sense of self in the face of immense pain was washed away. Thus as his bones, muscles, flesh and hair, his whole body reshaped itself, all the poor young man could do was howl in agony.

"A _girl_!?" Voldemort said incredulously as Harry returned to awareness.

Even as Harry slowly regained his wits, the Dark Lord laughed likely, at least in part, at his misery. His Death Eaters, being the sycophants they were, following suit.

"This was what all those protections were hiding?" The serpentine man said in between chuckles. "A _girl_?"

_What's he talking about?_

"Confused Potter?" Voldemort asked with a malicious smirk, even as he conjured a mirror in front of Harry. "Take a look for yourself."

The mirror showed Harry something that was impossible. Instead of showing the young man that he was, it was reflecting back the image of someone with similar but distinctly feminine features that even included his iconic lightning bolt shaped scar. Naturally, Harry flinched at the sight but that only served to slam his head into the headstone he was restrained against. This caused him to wince, something the girl in the mirror did as well. The motion also had the effect of causing the image's boobs to shift in a way that in other circumstances the young man would have found appealing, but not when he felt _things _moving on his chest at the same time.

"It can't be. It can't!" Harry shouted, too shocked to remember his situation and the need to avoid antagonizing his captors.

A failing that earned him another Cruciatus Curse that had him screaming once more.

"Don't let your mind wander again, Potter," Voldemort warned. "I'm not done speaking to you."

Harry just glared at him defiantly.

"Ah! Such defiance. Admirable, I suppose if it weren't so utterly futile." The Dark Lord noted with a malevolent grin while gesturing at Wormtail. "Let's demonstrate that shall we?"

"Master, the bo-uh, girl's wand." The traitor said as he fell to his knees before his Lord and offered the aforementioned magical foci to the man, if he could be called that.

Voldemort said nothing, just grabbed the wand from the rat like man's hands and tauntingly caressing it for a moment, before catching Harry's eyes and with one decisive motion snapped it in two.

Watching the tool through which he used his magic, the tool which had enabled his escape from the Dursleys, temporary though it always was, be destroyed shattered something in Harry and he could only look on in horror.

"I like that look on your face, girl." Voldemort sneered. "But I like you screaming even better! _**Crucio!**_"

Again Harry found himself subjected to the torture of the Cruciatus, but he bore it better than ever. He didn't know why, perhaps he was somehow becoming acclimated to it but even as he shrieked at the pain, some detached part of him still managed to hear as Voldemort rambled on.

"It seems your foolish parents worked the magic that kept you as a boy together with the protections that kept you safe from me." The dark wizard said, sounding amused. "That implies that wanted to protect you from the patriarchal wizarding world as much as they wanted to protect you from me."

_How? How am I able to hear him through all the pain? How am I even able to think straight!?_

That was not all though, everything suddenly was so very distant. Not just his pain, but his entire perception of his body and even the world itself seemed very far away.

_I remember Hermione mentioning something like this once. _The Potter realized. _Is this that state of detachment she talked about Eastern magi working towards on the path to enlightenment? She did say that sometimes it can be achieved through being subjected to extremes._

For a brief moment, Harry allowed himself to slip out of his detachment and the pain almost overwhelmed him. He hastily retreated back into his strange calm to escape it.

_Well, I'm sure that counts as an extreme. _The young man mused.

He was pulled from his thoughts as the pain began to seep into his consciousness again. Looking towards Voldemort he saw the dark wizard frowning as he seemed to be pouring more and more power into his curse. At least if the intensity of the light that streamed from his wand was any indication.

His focus on the physical world cost him and the pain almost caught up to him. Almost.

Reacting quickly, he quickly began casting about for something to distract him. Considering his circumstance it was perhaps no surprise that he latched onto his apparent sex change.

_If I'm really a girl then why did Mum and Dad make it seem like I was a boy?_

Even as he asked the question, the answer floated up from his memories.

The practice of using transfiguration to hide girls as boys came up once when he had been talking to the Weasley twins about war in the wizarding world after yet another boring History of Magic lesson on the Goblin Wars. He'd run into them after the lesson in the corridors and since they were all headed in the same direction had struck up a conversation.

He'd asked them if wizards had fought any other wars and if so what were they like.

The twins hadn't known much except tidbits, but they'd talked about this. Apparently, they found it interesting. According to them, during war or plain old times of crisis, young heiresses were protected this way to avoid them becoming targets and forced into becoming child brides so their husbands could steal their inheritance.

Hermione, who had been there too, had called it a backward and misogynistic practice, but had conceded that it was sometimes necessary in light of the Wizarding World's laws on inheritance. She did rant about how it was unfair that boys didn't need to be as afraid of that since no matter what their inheritance went to them even if they were married.

Harry reined in his wandering thoughts when he noticed that Voldemort had finally released his spell.

_I barely noticed. _Potter noted, shocked.

"I've had enough of torturing Potter." Voldemort said dismissively, clearly to cover his slightly labored breathing and the unnerved look in his eyes. "Wormtail, is the second ritual set up?"

"Almost, Master, just a few more final touches."

Harry expected the Dark Lord to lash out at his underling, but instead he just gave a distracted nod instead focusing the majority of his attention at looking at him with a curious gleam in his serpentine eyes.

"Hurry up," the inhuman looking wizard said without much bite as he looked at Harry like he was a puzzle. This lasted for only a moment before he shook his head and smiled darkly at the boy.

"Did you know, Potter, that a Prophecy exists between us?" Voldemort asked almost conversationally, he didn't wait for a reply though as he continued. "Of course you don't. Dumbledore would never reveal his precious secrets to a mere pawn."

Harry wanted to say something in the grandfatherly Headmaster's defense, but all opening his mouth did was earn him another Crucio. It hurt, but again Harry fled into the state of detachment once more and rode out the agony. He however could feel the repeated application of the spell was taking its toll on his body. It felt exhausted and weak.

He was so preoccupied with his observation of his body's state that he barely heard Voldemort as he kept talking.

"But I'll not be fate's obedient little pawn." Voldemort declared arrogantly. "No, I am Lord Voldemort and as I have cheated death, so shall I cheat fate itself! I shall circumvent this Prophecy and outwit destiny!"

Was Voldemort really so full of himself that he had deluded himself into thinking it was possible to do that? Really? He knew the man had hubristic belief in his own self-importance but this was just ridiculous.

_Good luck with th- _Harry's thoughts cut off as his body was finally pushed beyond its absolute limits and he passed out.

* * *

He regained consciousness only to find himself at the center of some kind of ritual circle that was glowing with blue light and with Voldemort chanting in a language he didn't recognize in the background. He struggled to get a look around but could barely push himself off the ground a few inches before collapsing back into a pained heap.

This earned him some chuckles from the many Death Eaters that he could see surrounding the ritual circle like a flock of vultures. Though calling them that might be doing vultures a disservice. At least the avian scavengers served a purpose in the natural order unlike these pathetic excuses for human beings who only knew how to hurt and terrorize their fellows.

The intensity of the light began building and that brought Harry's straying focus back onto his present. Using every bit of his diminished strength he turned to face the Dark Lord.

Seeing he had his attention, Voldemort smirked even as he finished the last words of his chant.

With the light of the magic circle growing blinding, Harry heard the Dark Lord's taunting voice

"Enjoy the past, Potter!" The madman shouted as the power of his ritual took hold of Harry.

Those words and an intense pulling sensation around his navel area, were the last things Harry Potter felt before passing out again.

* * *

**Here it is guys, the first chapter of what will likely be my greatest projects. **

**It's going to be a long ride though. With four main books and about a half dozen sidestories all plotted out, it'll likely take me years to write it all out. That said, you guys won't have to wait that long to read it as by the time I'm publishing this all of it will be ready for release and I'll be doing so at a steady pace.**

**So let me know what you think about this story. I very much want to know.**


	2. Life is hell

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter Two: Life is hell**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

**Trigger warning: Non-graphic rape**

In a wooded valley on a planet with two moons hovering in the sky, a vortex of blue energy suddenly sprung into being and spat out the battered body of an unconscious girl dressed in boys clothes before fading away as quickly as it had appeared.

For hours, the girl remained undisturbed. The native wildlife having been scared away by the strange phenomenon that had heralded her arrival. However, there was one form of life on this world that rather than being wary of the strange light, had instead been attracted to it by their powerful curiosity.

These took the form of a group of human hunters. They had been hunting some distance away and had only seen the vortex as a bright blue light on the horizon. The light had sent their game fleeing in terror but that just made them warily cautious as they approached where the light had appeared.

As they crept up to the place they had seen the light, they were surprised to find a lone girl in strange clothes lying unconscious on the forest floor. Faced with such an unexpected development, they quickly fell into furious debate about what to do with the child.

"I say we leave her," one of the older hunters said as he eyed the admittedly pretty looking girl warily. "We simply cannot afford to take her with us."

"But what about that light? It was clearly a sign from the gods," another middle aged hunter countered. "Our tribe is short on women. This must be a gift from the gods. Surely, we can't squander it."

"You only _think _it's a gift from the gods," another of the hunters shot back. "Perhaps it's a demon's trick and taking her in will spell our doom?"

The argument raged back and forth for some time, all the while the girl made no sign of stirring not even when they shifted her to check for injuries. There were none and except for her strange unconsciousness, there was nothing wrong with her. In fact, as many of the younger hunters could attest there were many, many things right with her.

She was beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful woman any of them had ever seen, with a slender but well muscled figure, small but perky breasts, well sculpted facial features and long, soft hair. She was so attractive that more than one of the unwed and even some of the wedded hunters were thinking more with their libidos than with sense as the argument raged.

The elders however had the sense to point out to these hotblooded fools the difficulties their tribe might face in providing for another person. And how they should take that into consideration before making a decision. They pushed the interested men on whether they were willing to take the girl as their wife and provide for her for the rest of her days.

Faced with such a heavy responsibility, and after some probing for the reckless fools who declared they would do so without the means to live up to their boast, all but one of the fools backed down.

The lone young hunter stood before his elders with determination burning in his eyes.

"I'll provide for her," the young man said. "I've been thinking of taking a wife for some time now and it seems the gods have delivered her to me."

The elders looked at him consideringly. Unlike the others who had expressed similar intentions, this young hunter was indeed both of marriageable age and had demonstrated an aptitude on the hunt that would ensure he could provide for a wife. The elders thus did not dismiss his claim out of hand and began to confer among themselves.

As the elders discussed their decision, the young hunter was being derided by his peers.

"Are you so hungry for a taste of a woman that you've forsaken all reason?" One of the middle aged hunters asked mockingly. "The girl is clearly injured and will need looking after. Are you going to provide that?"

"If need be yes," the young hunter replied easily shocking the older man.

"And what if she has no useful skills like the elders said? What then?" Another man, one who himself had been humiliated by the elders on this very point earlier. "What good would she be to our tribe then?"

"Then I'll train her," the young man countered with a shrug. "She's beautiful enough that I won't mind making the effort."

"Enough," one of the elders said at last. "We've made our decision."

All the hunters, but the young hunter especially, eagerly turned to give the elders their attention.

* * *

_Ugh. I'm tired. _Harry thought to himself as his eyes openly weakly to an unfamiliar sight.

He found himself looking up at the unfamiliar roof of what appeared to be a tent made from animal hides.

_What!? _The disorientated Boy-Who-Lived thought in alarm as he bolted upright in shock. Or at least tried to. He'd barely managed to get halfway into a sitting position before he was hit with by vertigo and all but collapsed back onto the ground.

A handsome young man that was slightly older than him and dressed in animal furs hurried over. He spoke to him urgently.

He didn't understand a word the man was saying, but Harry guessed that he was trying to check on him.

"I-I'm okay," the wizard told him reflexively in a croaky voice, even as he realized the man probably couldn't understand him either. The man somehow seemed to get the gist of it though and with a frown tried to push him back on his back.

Harry would have been grateful for the man's concern if his attempt at speech had not surfaced another more pressing concern: he was parched.

"W-water," Harry begged.

The man thankfully seemed to understand and reached for an animal skin nearby and carefully placed the opening over Harry's mouth before pouring a small amount of water into his mouth. It took the edge off his thirst, but it was still terrible so he reached up to grab at the skin himself intent to gulp its contents down.

The man taking care of him easily beat his exhausted hands aside and chided him in his strange language before pouring another mouthful down Harry's throat.

_Oh! I get it. He wants me to drink slowly. _Harry realized as he swallowed the latest dose of the life-giving liquid.

The two passed what must have been five minutes with the man feeding Harry small amounts at at a time to help alleviate his thirst. The man chattered away the whole while, attempting to make conversation but the wizard of course understood none of it. Though he fancied he was beginning to make some headway at guessing at what he was saying.

_Yeah, right. Like anyone could start understanding a whole new language after just one conversation. _Harry mentally scoffed as his thirst finally abated and he gently pushed the water skin aside.

The man looked at him skeptically but placed it by his side. He reached for a bowl of food and Harry looked at the barbecued meat hungrily.

Unfortunately for the young wizard however, his eyes were already growing heavy. Seeing this his caretaker frowned but nevertheless put down the food and moved to adjust a blanket that Harry had only now realized had been draped over him.

The man said something that must have been some variant of 'Sleep well' just as Harry fell asleep.

* * *

As Harry walked back to her tribe's camp with a basket of berries along with the tribe's other women, the young woman began thinking on her situation.

She had been living with these people for what must have months now. She couldn't be completely sure since since she's fairly sure the day/night cycle on this planet was different from Earth.

Over time Harry had mostly recovered and in the process come to realize that she had ended up living among what seemed like some kind of stone age tribe. That realization had led to her briefly considered running away in search of civilization. But her reason quickly asserted itself. With her injuries from enduring Voldemort's torture and without her wand, she wasn't likely to survive on her own.

Then there was the possibility that there was no civilization to be found at all on this alien world. A possibility hammered home by the two moons that hung in the sky every night.

With that in mind, she had decided, at least for the time being, to stay put.

They were after all taking as good care of her as they could manage. Especially the young hunter, Astox, that had been taking care of her when she first awoke. In fact, his care and attention made her think he might fancy her and that unnerved her. Thankfully, he seemed to be taking it slow in his advances due to her injuries.

That said, a part of her was confused by why she'd been assigned to sleep in his tent. She was too terrified of what that might imply to ask questions though. She's not ready to deal with that yet.

_Yeah, better to think of something else._

Like the huge culture shock. Coming from 20th century Britain, she had found it beyond difficult to adapt to being a part of a hunter-gatherer society. Fortunately, the people in her tribe were accommodating, especially the women and Astox, all of whom had gone out of their way to help her even when they were sometimes perplexed by her lack of knowledge of some of the things they considered most basic.

Though she is thankful that she seems to be earning her keep now as she had proved herself adept at helping the tribe's other women in the gathering. She can't work as long as they do, the strain is still too much for her recovering body but her magic seemed to have given her a sixth sense for where there would be the best berries and other fruits for them to collect.

She's happy she could pay the women back. They hadn't just taught her about daily life in the tribe but also, awkwardly, helped teach her about being a woman. She'd never imagined having periods and breasts could be as uncomfortable as they were. Over the past few months she'd developed a acute empathy for all the women she'd known for having to endure all that, and envy towards her friends back in Britain for the modern conveniences that she was sure made them so much easier to deal with.

_At least my scar's gone somehow. It couldn't be because I became a girl, I remember still having it when Voldemort turned me back, _Harry thought, suppressing a shudder as the memory of the torture she'd endured at the hands of the Dark Lord resurfaced for a moment. _So maybe the trip through time? Yeah, that's gotta be it._

She had resisted having to accept her situation at first, after all who would readily accept having a sex change being forced on you then being punted through time? But like when she had learned about being a wizard in the end she just had to deal with the card that life had dealt her. Sure, this had a lot less of an upside to it. None at all so far, not at least as far as she could see. But Harry Potter was nothing if not a survivor and she would adapt to and survive this change too.

"Haree!" One of the women called out and grabbed the distracted witch by the arm, pulling her out of the way of a tree she was about to walk into. "Are you okay? Do you need rest?"

"I'm fine, just got distracted." Harry reassured the other woman.

"You get lost in your thoughts too much, youngling." A older woman told her with a good natured chuckle.

Harry just rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment but couldn't dispute that accurate statement. She had developed a habit of letting her mind wander lately. She blamed it on her long convalescence, it gave her too much time to think.

Though she was also thankful for all the chance to rest. Not only had it healed her body, for the most part at least, but it had also allowed her magic to help her pick up her tribe's language. It was after all the only way that she could think of that would explain how she managed to master it so abnormally quickly.

She didn't know if magic could work like this, but she had heard of how it could do strange things sometimes when wizards were put under pressure and her situation definitely counted as such.

"Oh look, the hunters are back already!" One of the women in the lead of their little procession said as they trickled back into camp.

She was right. There in the center of their little village of tents were the hunting party that had set off yesterday. It looked like they had been successful too, as hanging from a pole on the shoulders of two of the men was the carcass of a large elk like animal that the tribe called Branch Horns.

_We're going to eat well tonight. _Harry thought to herself with a smile as she put down her basket of berries next to a the growing pile of such left behind by the other women.

She searched the growing crowd that had been drawn by the hunters' triumphant return for Astox, intent on offering her tentmate her congratulations when he spotted the man storming towards her with a dark look on his face.

_He must have made a mistake on the hunt._ Harry reasoned, as she began to think up ways to comfort him.

"Astox," she greeted the man with a smile as he neared.

If the man heard her, he made no sign of it instead grabbing hold of her arm and starting to drag her back to their tent.

"Ow! Astox, what's wrong?" Harry asked as she struggled to keep up with the pace he set.

He remained silent even as he roughly pushed her into their tent before following suit.

"I took down that Branch Horn," he said suddenly as he paced in front of the only way in and out of the tent. "Yet the other hunters do not respect me."

Harry felt a growing weight in her stomach, even as she cautiously stepped back from the angry man.

"Because at least their wives share their bed!" Astox hissed, glaring at Harry accusingly.

"What are you saying?" Harry asked, dread filling her. "Who's your wife?"

Astox just looked at her like she was an idiot.

"Enough is enough," the young hunter said, advancing on her even as Harry continued backing away. "I've waited long enough for you to heal. And you've healed."

"I'm your wife!? Is that what you're saying!?" Harry gasped, horrified at the very notion. Of being with a man at all. She had never thought about her sexuality much, even as a boy when she'd had the time to do so, but she'd always liked girls. Becoming one herself had not changed that.

Astox ignored what she said and continued stalking towards her.

"You're well enough to go gathering now, so that means you're well enough to do your wifely duties." The young man said as he reached out to grab Harry.

The witch jerked back but just crashed into the wall of their tent. He'd backed her all the way to the other side of the tent without her noticing.

He lunged at her again and Harry tried to dodge to the side, but despite her seeker reflexes, she was still getting used to her new body and recovering from her injuries, as such he easily caught her.

"Let me go!" Harry screamed. "Someone help!"

"No one will stop me from taking my own wife," Astox told her smugly as he threw her onto the pile of dried grass that served as her bed.

Disorientated from the throw, she barely noticed as the hunter pinned her down. When she did she tried kicking at him but he just grunted before using his own legs to press hers down into the ground.

"Please stop!" Harry begged, tears streaming unabashedly down her face.

She might have faced down Voldemort in all his terrible glory but this was so much worse.

The witch tried to call on her magic, but it refused to respond giving her only the same sense of emptiness that she'd felt ever since she'd crashed onto this world.

"Stop? No, I won't stop." Astox hissed as he manhandled Harry's hands over her head so he could hold them down with one hand. "I've had enough of waiting."

* * *

Weeks later, Harry was crying as she got dressed in the morning while Astox leaves their tent with his weapons for another hunt. Like so many nights before since that first time after the successful Branch Horns hunt, her 'husband' had raped her.

But that was not the source of her tears. As terrible as it sounded, she had gotten used to the man having his way with her. What had her crying was that she hadn't resisted him last night. It wasn't the first time, but it nevertheless left her crying in disgust at her weakness!

There had been nothing she could do to stop him. She had learned that the hard way after she'd tried to fight him off with a knife once only to have him easily disarm her before proceeding to be extra rough with her and even taking her up the arse for the first time as punishment.

That had left her almost as humiliated as she was today, but in so much more pain.

She shuddered at the memory.

Even appealing to the rest of the tribe had proven fruitless. She'd tried that the day after the first time he raped her. When he'd finally been satisfied enough with using her as his personal hump toy and dozed off, she'd ran out of the tent planning to ask for help but was forced to stop short when she found the whole tribe busy celebrating the consummation of her "marriage". Some of them had even come up to her to congratulate her!

The commotion had of course roused Astox and he'd come out to retrieve her. He'd dragged her back to their tent, to the cheers of the tribe, and raped her again.

She'd never approached anyone in the tribe about the matter again.

Though not everyone in the tribe was unsympathetic. A few women had pulled her aside a few days later and with empathetic looks told her that they'd undergone the same, that such was the fate of women taken from their birth tribes by the men of this world. She'd asked them how they coped and with pained looks they had told that she had no choice but to learn to live with her lot in life.

_I should have listened to them faster._ Harry sobbed as she began putting on her clothes.

Instead, she tried resisting her 'husband' every time he raped her for a whole week and all she'd earned from that was a whole bunch of bruises and a pained bum.

Eventually though she had heeded their advice and she'd learned to give him what he wanted. Even then though she retreated from the horror by fleeing into her own mind like she had when Voldemort tortured her.

Astox noticed this of course and complained once that she was like a cold fish and fearful of his wrath, she'd learned to let her body react in the ways he wanted even as the bulk of her mind retreated.

Checking to make sure she was properly dressed and finding herself ready, Harry let out one last sob and hastily wiped away her tears. Astox didn't like it when she advertised that he was raping her just to get his 'wife' to sleep with him.

_I wonder why? _Harry thought sarcastically as she walked towards the exit of the tent.

It was cold comfort though that his actions made him uncomfortable. Not when it didn't make him stop.

Stepping out of the tent at last, Harry had to choke back a sob as a heartbreaking realization struck her.

_My life is hell._

* * *

**This was a difficult chapter to write for obvious reasons. That being the case it was necessary. Harry needs to be broken down before she can rise back up again.**

**Why did I choose such a controversial means to break her? Well… One thing I find ridiculous about various Isekai/Time travel/etc. stories (both fics and published IPs) is how the female characters in the situation often don't truly suffer the consequences of being transported to a fantasy/pre-modern setting where they have no marketable skills except their body. I mean in such settings, what's all the things girls might know from school/work in the modern age help them do? Many of the jobs where they might be applicable are reserved for men, the only exception being cooking I guess but even then without the same ingredients and readily available recipes… Yeah, many girls won't make it. Men on the other hand can at least use their academic knowledge as somewhat of an edge in professions or just sell their physical labor. My choice to use rape is thus a nod to this line of thinking which I think is a rather realistic take on things, especially in the context (namely the kind of society Harry's tribe is) I've set up in the chapter.**

**Okay, with the most controversial element of this chapter and possibly the whole story out of the way, let's talk about the other important matters about this chapter I want to address.**

**Firstly, Harry's easy acceptance of her new sex. Well, this is mainly a case of me just not wanting to focus on something that frankly can be a whole fic all on its own. That said, it should be noted that canon!Harry has demonstrated a high tolerance for insane changes to his life/worldview/etc. so I don't think a relatively easy acceptance (note it took her a months long timeskip) is unjustifiable.**

**Secondly, Harry's magic. Yes, it's behaving wonky. There's a reason for this. Partly it's because it was drained as part of the ritual that sent her through time and space. Partly it's because it's being used to power some changes that Harry is unconsciously going through. What are those changes? Well, take a guess.**

**Thirdly, Harry's scar. Yes, Voldemort's Horcrux is gone. I don't want to delve too much into it because neither Harry nor anyone in-stroy for that matter will attach much focus to its loss instead chalking it up to a variety of theories. However, for those interested just know that it's because Voldemort's time travel ritual consumed it as a power source. Voldemort was not fully aware of its existence and thus didn't take it into account when using the ritual to send her back in time. If he had, he wouldn't have actually cared. Anyways, as a result of the extra power provided by the soul fragment, the ritual sent Harry further back and further away then Voldemort ever intended and the ritual was originally designed to. Hence, Harry appearing on another planet.**

**Well, that's it for now. Till next time, Ciao.**


	3. Apotheosis

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter Three: Apotheosis**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

**Trigger warning: Discussion of non-graphic rape**

Life among her tribe had gone on much the same for months, Harry would spend the day gathering the bounty of the surrounding forest with the other women, doing simple crafts or helping out with the cooking. At night, she would endure her duties as Astox's wife and allow him to use her body for his own needs.

It still hurt. Her 'husband' was always rough with her, but she had learned well how to retreat into the depths of her own mind. It left her a little unresponsive for Astox's tastes at times and he punished her for it, but Harry had learned to live with that too. Better to suffer the occasional punishment than actually be fully present for the nightly humiliations.

Harry was just glad that whatever dregs of magic she had left seemed to be keeping her from getting pregnant. She wouldn't know what to do if she was forced to have the child of her rapist. As unthinkable as it was, she feared that she would do something drastic should she ever discover that she was with child.

Thankfully the past few days had distracted her from these dark thoughts. Apparently the gods were about to visit and the entire tribe had been busy making themselves and their village presentable. Their finest clothes were brought out, resized and repaired as necessary, and their tents that served as their homes were touched up in a variety of ways as well.

The whole tribe had been so busy that Astox had only been able to take her once this whole week, which she considered a major blessing in and of itself.

Today though was finally the big day that the gods would descend from the heavens and collect tribute from their earthly subjects. As such, every member of the tribe had gathered in the clearing in the center of the village that passed for its town square to await their coming. They were all dressed in their best, which for Harry meant the now cleaned athletic wear she'd been wearing for the Final Task of the Triwizard Tournament and were chattering eagerly when a unbelievable sight caught their attention.

Off in the distance, a flying machine was headed their way.

_I never thought it would be like this, _Harry thought as she joined the rest of her tribe in looking on in awe as some kind of ship that looked vaguely pyramid-shaped but with an elongated nose and with a rear section that curved into a pair of wings came to hover over the village.

_Did Voldemort make a mistake and I've somehow ended up in the future?_

Harry's fantastical thoughts were only reinforced when a set of large rings descended from the ship and with a burst of white light a group of three men appeared within them. Having deposited their cargo, the rings rose back up into the belly of the ship revealing to the tribe their gods.

They consisted of three men. Two of them were wearing vaguely medieval looking armor that had elaborate helmets shaped like a elk's head complete with a set of impressive antlers and clutched staffs that ended in bulbs. These obvious guards flanked a redhead dressed in elaborate robes with an overabundance of gold fabric and jewelry.

At the sight of the redhead, the whole tribe fell to their knees and bowed in reverence.

_He must one of the 'gods', _Harry concluded as she followed the example of the others.

"**Where is our tribute?" **The 'god' demanded immediately while radiating impatience and annoyance.

"Name it, my lord, and you shall have it," the tribe's chief replied, bowing so deeply to his 'god' that his forehead touched the ground.

The redhead nodded dismissively, probably having expected the response, and observed every member of the tribe searchingly. He seemed unimpressed by most of them until his eyes landed on Harry.

The witch felt her blood run cold as she finally realized what the 'god' meant by tribute: human sacrifice. That and the understanding that her raven black hair and pale skin made her stand out a great deal among the tanned skin and brown hair that predominated in her tribe.

"**Her!" **The 'god' ordered pointing at Harry without much surprise from anyone, though Astox did flinch as he realized his 'wife' was about to be taken from him.

Harry would have cheered at that if only she knew what being a human sacrifice to this 'god' meant. Would he cut her open and eat her heart? Or would he add her to his harem? The uncertainty over whether she'd escaped her hellish life only to step into another held back any happiness.

Despite her musings, Harry nevertheless was able with long practice to continue as if nothing was wrong and smoothly stood before walking through the parting crowds of her still kneeling tribesmen to stand next to the 'god' and his guards.

One of the guards grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her closer even as the rings descended once more from the ship to surround them. Without any delay, with another burst of light Harry found herself somewhere else.

_This must be the interior of the ship. _Harry reasoned as she found herself in a large room with gold colored walls, and a half dozen other tributes, both men and women, seated on the floor. The room was guarded by a dozen more guards in medieval armor but without their helmets on thus revealing them to be humans with an odd tattoo on their foreheads that looked like a stylized image of a elk.

She had appeared at the center of the room in the middle of another set of rings which as they descended, the 'god' and his escorts stepped out from while carelessly pushing her out of the way.

Harry stumbled but managed to keep her balance and watched as the redhead disappeared into another room with his shadows in tow. One of the remaining guards gestured with his staff for her to take a seat off to the side of the room.

Harry compiled all the while wondering where fate would take her now.

* * *

After what felt like a couple hours and the collection of a couple dozen more tributes, they were transported in groups via the rings to somewhere else. As the bright white light of the transport rings teleportation faded, Harry found herself in a large hall with the similar gold colored walls as the ship and filled to the brim with even more tributes. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of them, being marched along in long queues.

It honestly reminded Harry of images of airport security she'd seen on the tele or more ominously of pictures of the Nazi concentration camps in World War 2. The mere thought of which sent a chill down her spine and the possible implications of what that meant for her.

Again through long practice, she didn't let her wandering thoughts distract her from following the orders of the guards as they marched her batch of tributes to join a queue walking through a device that looked like a cross between a metal detector and a pyramid that had a crystal at the apex.

Ahead of them, some tributes were pulled away as they walked through it by the guards when the crystal flashed with a gold light.

_It must be a scanner of some kind. _Harry realized nervously. _What is it looking for?_

She fretted over the possibility as her queue steadily snaked its way forward.

When it was finally her turn to walk through the device, the crystal flashed like she had fearfully expected and a pair of guards immediately moved to flank her. Knowing the futility of resistance she wordlessly followed them as they escorted her out of the hall in a different direction from where most of the other tributes were going.

_I hope this doesn't mean they're going to kill me. _Harry prayed to whatever god was listening as they traveled down a winding path through a series of labyrinthine corridors lined with the seemingly omnipresent gold and lit incongruously enough by the occasional burning brazier.

She was eventually led into a small but more opulent chamber. The walls like everywhere else in the domain of these 'gods' was lined with gold but in this room at least this was complemented by a variety of beautiful exotic potted plants, flaming braziers of polished bronze and other exquisite furnishings.

Harry wasn't the only tribute brought here though. Alongside her were another twenty three others.

_Out of the thousands earlier, only two dozen of us have been brought here? Whatever we're here for must be important._

Even as she thought that another four tributes joined them

_Twenty eight out of thousands. There's both men and women here, so this isn't a harem selection I think, though I might be wrong. What could it be… Hmm..._

Any further musings were cut short by the entrance of a blonde woman in a golden dress and wearing elaborate golden jewelry. She exuded power and confidence and even without the guards escorting her, Harry would have concluded she was one of the 'gods',

Following in her wake were two dozen guards and a large pot that hovered in midair. From the way the guards were spread out, Harry realized that whatever was in the pot was about as important as the 'goddess' before her.

_I wonder what it is._

Harry cursed her curiosity as her unspoken question was answered when the 'goddess' put her hands into the pot and using gentle words and movements coaxed out a nightmarish looking creature from the water within. It was snake like in appearance but had fins running along its body that betrayed its aquatic nature. It had a mouth that split open into four equal parts lined with razor sharp teeth that it showed off in a aggressive hiss at the by now quivering tributes, and four blood red eyes that shined with malevolence as it looked them over greedily.

The tributes didn't have time to process their fear though as the guards began lining them up into neat rows for the woman with the creature now curled up around her arm to walk pass and inspect them.

Harry was terrified as she waited her turn but as the monster finally reached her and it's eyes lingered on her, she felt her knees began to shake and she honestly worried they would give out on her.

She thus breathed a sigh of relief when after a excessively long amount of time the creature hesitantly gestured for its handler to move on.

She was just getting herself back together when she was caught flat footed by the woman returning a second time with the creature. Cold dread filled her as this time, without hesitation the creature immediately lunged at her.

Harry flinched away and the snake thing missed, but this just meant the guards got involved. They grabbed hold of her and despite her struggles easily held her in place. One grabbed her head and forced her mouth open as the 'goddess', smiling with demented pleasure guided the snake towards Harry's open mouth.

_This can't be happening! Merlin no! _

Harry's prayers went unanswered though as with a brief but intense burst of pain, she felt the thing puncture the flesh at the back of her throat as it began its invasion of her body and mind.

She felt it begin to wrap itself around her spine and as it did, Harry could feel the creature begin to take control over her body. It forced her to stand still even as the guards released her when all she wanted was to collapse to the ground and try to dig it out of her mouth. Worse, she could feel it slither its way into its mind, rummaging through her memories.

Its presence in her mind reeked of evil as it called up one memory or the other at random. It was amused at memories of her suffering, disgusted at her happiest moments, and intrigued by her memories of magic.

Terrified of the creature, Harry fled into the blank white safe space she'd learnt to first escape to when Voldemort tortured her and which had become her escape during her rapes.

Unfortunately the monster wouldn't let her go and pursued her. Harry tried to will her out and for a moment it worked, but the creature just laughed, a sound full of malice, before it barreled through Harry's meager defenses.

Harry should have felt terrified and helpless as her last haven was violated. But contrary to even her expectations, the lost of her last refuge instead caused something in Harry to snap. She had been forced to hide and endure suffering she'd thought unimaginable for months now, from the brief but intense torture under Voldemort, to having to adjust to a whole new sex and a changed body, to repeated rapes. This however was a line too far.

The saying goes to never push an enemy too far for they were most dangerous when they had nothing left to lose. This, Harry felt, described her current feelings aptly.

Instead of being despondent, she was furious. Instead of rolling over and accepting her fate, she gathered her will and prepared to fight. To show this monster that she would not go quietly into the night.

As her emotions flared, for the first time since the graveyard she could feel her magic truly answer her call once more. It had been a lingering presence since then, hovering at the edge of her awareness and out of reach, helping her in subtle ways. But now it roared with the same intensity as Harry's defiance

Summoning her newly responsive magic, within the mindscape that was her former retreat Harry shaped a chunk of it into a lance and sent it at the serpentine shape that had invaded her sanctuary.

The creature easily evaded that attack and as it did spoke in a taunting voice, "**So the scared the little girl is willing to fight at last?"**

Harry ignored the monster and instead fired a whole brace of magical lances at the invader which proceeded to defend itself by, much to Harry's shock, tapping into Harry's own magic to conjure a wave of flame that swallowed and consumed her attack.

As the flames faded, the creature was transformed into a doppelganger of Harry herself but with her eyes ablaze with golden fire.

"**I am Nantosuelta, goddess of fire, little girl and you are about to die!" **The self-proclaimed goddess declared as she launched a gout of conjured flame at Harry who deflected it with a wall of water.

If the witch had been able to spare the thought she'd have pondered on how she'd managed to control the water so readily but in this fight to the death, she had none whatsoever to spare.

Even as they dueled, the previously empty mindscape had began to shift into the familiar graveyard where Harry's hell had began.

"**A fitting place for your end too," **Nantosuelta laughed as she fired a volley of fireballs at Harry.

Harry countered by launching her own barrage of water bolts. The majority of her attention was not on the duel itself though, even as she retaliated with a tidal wave that was in turn countered by a wall of white hot flames the meeting of which produced an obscuring cloud of steam.

No, Harry's main focus was on her magic that was flowing all around her, invisibly suffusing her mindscape and providing fuel for both combatants. This was _her _magic and she was determined to remind it of that.

Though she still had to wary of Nantosuelta's attacks as evidenced by how she was forced to hastily erect a wall of water to absorb the oversized fireball the 'goddess' had tossed her way.

_You're mine! Remember that! _Harry shouted at her magic and poured her will into the ocean of otherworldly power, even as her wall of water reshaped itself into a large orb from which a heavily pressurized jet of water shot at Nantosuelta.

The 'goddess' summoned a shield bubble and began stalking towards Harry, a smirk on her face as a pair of flaming swords formed in her hands. Obviously, the monster was still confident that her victory was assured.

_You're a fool! _Harry thought with a triumphant grin as she seized control of her magic and ripped it away from Nantosuelta's control.

The effect was immediate. Nantosuelta's shield disappeared and to her credit she reacted with inhuman speed to place her swords in a guard in front of her futile though it would have been but even the blades vanished as her control of Harry's magic was lost and she was thus defenseless as the full brunt of the water jet slammed right into her face.

Harry enjoyed the sight of the look of utter disbelief and horror on the face of the self-proclaimed 'goddess' before it vanished into a mist of bloody brain matter and other gore that was promptly swept away by her water jet.

The witch didn't have much time to gloat though as even as the corpse of the dead 'goddess' fell to the ground of her mindscape, Harry was suddenly consumed by agony on par with her worse memories of the Cruciatus. A pain that was accompanied by a rush of images and knowledge as Nantosuelta's genetic memory poured into her mind.

* * *

Fortuitously, the whole mental battle and the absorption of Nantosuelta's being had only taken a few seconds in the real world. Thus no one had noticed anything was out of the ordinary as Harry opened her eyes and in accordance with the Goa'uld custom she'd just learned she allowed them to flash gold.

"**What is your name?" **The Goa'uld before her which she now knew to be Ancasta asked in as close to genuine concern as one of the parasitic megalomaniacs could manage.

_Where Nantosuelta wanted nothing more than to rule the galaxy as a tyrant, I'll protect them, the whole galaxy if need be, from the Goa'uld. This I swear! _Harry swore to herself. _Where Nantosuelta wanted to be a fire goddess, I choose a name that's tied to water! I'll be the Lady of the Lake. _

"**My name is Nimue."**

* * *

**And done!**

**This chapter, as you can imagine, is a major milestone for this story as it marks the end of the beginning for Harry as it were as she transitions into Nimue, the Goa'uld who will reshape the fate of galaxies.**

**What do I mean? Keep reading and find out.**

**Also this marks the end of the releases for this week. I felt the need to at least reach the crossover elements of the story before stopping, so as to get readers from both fandoms a chance to see what I intend. Hope you liked it.**

**Till next time, peace out.**


	4. Posting to the Frontier

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter Four: Posting to the Frontier**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

**Trigger warning: Consensual public sex, Sexual Slavery**

The newly named Nimue had barely finished declaring her new name, when a door to the chamber opened and a new Goa'uld stepped through. He was a blonde dressed in resplendent golden robes and a deerskin cloak.

Nimue recognized him immediately thanks to her newly acquired genetic memory as Oisin, the Fleet Lord of this fleet and the highest ranking Goa'uld for light-years.

Knowing her place, Nimue bowed to her superior, Ancasta doing the same beside her.

"**So what is your name, my new kin?" **The Fleet Lord asked, sounding curious.

"**My name is Nimue, my lord." **

"**An interesting choice,"** the male Goa'uld mused. "**But it is yours to make and I will not begrudge you that. But onto more formal business. I extend you the warmest welcome, young Nimue, into the service of the Goa'uld Empire and the House of Erie."**

Nimue offered a bow, hoping that it came across as grateful.

It seemed to pass muster as Oisin, returned it with a nod.

"**Nimue, Ancasta, come the welcoming feast to honor Nimue's ascension awaits."**

Oisin proceeded to lead them out of the room where Nimue had been reborn and down a series of winding hallways to a room filled to the brim with clothes in every style that Nimue could conceive of and a pair of waiting female servants.

"**Get changed into something befitting a goddess, young one." **Oisin ordered.

Nimue nodded and stepped into a room, the door closing behind her and leaving her alone with the two servants.

Harry had never paid attention to fashion in his life as a boy, because it never occurred to him as a boy to do so but also because he was too busy struggling under the neglect and abuse he was subjected to by the Dursleys to have the chance. And the less said about her options among Astox's tribe, the better. As such she had to rely on what she'd gained from Nantosuelta to guide her. Considering that the Goa'uld had been little more than a eel like creature for the entirety of its life, she had spent a disproportionate amount of time working out what style she would adopt when she was finally granted a host.

She nevertheless askewed the furs that the Goa'uld she'd killed would have favored and instead examined her choices carefully.

It took ten minutes and substantial help form the servants but Nimue was finally satisfied. Stepping out of the walk in wardrobe, the new Goa'uld was dressed in a shoulderless tube of pale white-blue silk that clung to every curve of her shapely body. The entire dress, from the chest and collarbone to the trim, was endowed in lace. It had full-length sleeves, attached by thin cords of white satin, made entirely of lace. To complete this extravagant outfit was a short train that flowed from her skirt.

She'd considered picking out a headdress or doing something with her hair but after the difficulty of getting into the dress, she thought better of it.

Oisin and Ancasta who had both waited for her, complimented her readily.

"**You look stunning, Nimue." **Oisin said appreciatively.

"**Yes, stunning." **Ancasta agreed, with a clear hint of jealousy.

Harry would have blushed at the compliments and Nimue could feel her human body wanting to react as such, but she used the power to manipulate it that her Goa'uld body possessed to suppress it. A Goa'uld did not blush.

"**Now that you're properly attired," **Oisin said, giving Nimue another appreciative look. "**Let us feast!"**

With that declaration, the Fleet Lord led his two female underlings once more through the labyrinthine corridors. All the while Oisin unabashedly leered at Nimue, even as Ancasta glared at her jealousy whenever their superior wasn't looking.

_If she wants his attention, then she can have it. _Nimue thought to herself as she barely suppressed frowning at both her fellow Goa'uld, and adopting an aloof mask to hide her inner disgust at both of them.

Eventually, they and a steadily growing retinue of servants and guards that attached themselves to the three Goa'uld as they passed, stepped into a large hall that had been set up to look like a large feasting hall straight out of a classical Celtic settlement.

_These Goa'uld really do take this imitation of the cultures they've co-opted seriously, don't they? _Nimue mused as she followed Oisin's lead and took a seat on a series of raised platforms at the head of the hall. Oisin, of course, took the highest dais while Nimue and Ancasta took the ones immediately below his own.

They sat and waited in ceremonious silence as other Goa'uld trickled into the hall, taking seats at various platforms on either side of the hall according to their rank.

When everyone was finally seated, Oisin stood and addressed the hall.

"**Today, my fellow gods, is a day of great joy for the Goa'uld Empire and the House of Erie for it is the day when we welcome a new god into our ranks. May I introduce you, my peers, to our youngest kin: Nimue!"**

Nimue took the cue as it was and rose, to the polite cheering from the other Goa'uld. Acting on the code of decorum imprinted into her by stolen genetic memory, she allowed her eyes to flash gold and curtsied to her gathered peers.

As she did, the guards - _Jaffa, they're called Jaffa. -_ and the servants throughout the hall fell to their knees and bowed their heads low towards her in respectful worship.

_They truly do see me as a goddess. _Nimue boggled. She had known from her genetic memory that they would, but to actually see proof of it was something else altogether.

With an imperious nod, Nimue bade them to stand with a dismissive wordless gesture of her hand even as she took her seat.

_I don't like treating them this way but I have no choice. _The newly ascended Goa'uld bemoaned to herself. If she didn't treat these people like they were beneath her, the other Goa'uld would become suspicious and might brand her a traitor.

_I'm sorry, but I can't risk that. _Nimue said to the part of herself that was upset by the way the servants and Jaffa were treating her. _I want to survive and if that means I have to pretend to be a tyrant then I'm going to do it!_

While Nimue was assuaging her own guilt, Oisin had ordered the feast to begin. It was an impressive affair with tables full of exotic foods. In one corner, there was even a bard who sung epic songs about the triumphs of the Goa'uld and the House of Eire in particular. At the same time, a group of slaves in the center of the room danced various exotic dances some of which Nimue recognized from Harry's memories as looking vaguely Middle Eastern or East Asian.

As the feast began in earnest, Oisin turned to flirt with her but Nimue just offered him a polite smile and deflected his interest. She was worried this would anger him, but to he seemed to take it in stride and instead turned his attentions to Ancasta even as he ordered for his harem to attend to him.

This disgusted Nimue, but she let none of it show. Not even when a casual glance at the other Goa'uld showed her that Oisin was not the only one who had summoned company. Most of the other Goa'uld were surrounded by bevies of beautiful women and men who attended to the self-proclaimed gods' every need.

Instead, she plastered on a pleasant smile and pretended to enjoy the dances while taking occasional bites from the food laid out for her, making it a point to sample all the dishes in turn. It would fit in well with the impression of a newbie still getting used to her newly acquired host that she was trying to give the other Goa'uld.

Inwardly though, she was making more productive use of her time and reflected on her current situation.

She's thankful that she'd gained Nantosuelta's genetic memory and the bits of lingering personality she inherited from the Goa'uld that tried to enslave her to guide her actions. She would not have been able to pull off anywhere close to the act she putting on without them. Though considering everything else, she's not sure it's worth it. Defeating Nantosuelta has left her as something that she isn't certain qualifies as human. She didn't just absorb her mentally, she's also _somehow _gained control of her body.

_How can I be both a human and some kind of parasitic snake at the same time? Heck, if I was just a normal Goa'uld that would be bad enough but I just had to win the bad luck jackpot and end up possessing a Queen!_

One would assume being a Queen would be a good thing, but then that person understood nothing of the intricacies of Goa'uld society. Queens, despite their lofty title and position as the only reproductive members of the Goa'uld race, were treated as little more than commodities by the System Lords. They were often captured and forced to spawn offspring at the command of more powerful Goa'uld. Rare was it for there to be a Queen who ever managed to amass enough power in her own right to avoid such a fate.

_I'll need to be very careful or I'll end up becoming some System Lord's broodmare. _Nimue realizes, suppressing a shudder. Having been forced to endure that once was bad enough, she would not allow herself to go through that again.

Pulling away from that line of thinking, Nimue returned to pondering her new nature.

_I have to be some kind of magical creature._

She could feel her magic coursing through her body in a way that she'd only ever known in the past when she cast powerful spells like the Patronus. She felt so magically charged at the moment she's sure she could cast her spells without a wand now.

_Something to try out later. _Nimue mused as she tried to work out the mechanics of why this was the case.

_It's probably the Naquadah. _She hypothesized. She knew that by becoming a Goa'uld host, trace quantities of this unique mineral was added to her bloodstream. Considering the way it enhanced power output whenever conventional energy was passed through it, it wasn't a stretch to assume it would do the same for magic. At the same time, it being spread out throughout her body by her bloodstream might allow it to substitute for her wand in serving as a focus. One that was at once more deeply connected to her and at the same time much more powerful.

_Though I've gotta hand it to whatever I've become, the multitasking rocks. Without it I'd definitely have looked completely distracted, end up insulting Oisin and earn myself some kind of punishment._

Thinking about her superior, she turned her attention to the Goa'uld seated on a throne above her own while he enjoyed the feast. His harem had apparently arrived, as he was being attended to by a bevy of beautiful scantily clad female slaves.

This up front view of his lechery, especially when he ordered one of his slaves to expose her breasts and express her breast milk into a goblet for him to drink, reminded Nimue of her treatment by Astox and stirred a deep disgust within her. So much so that it took all her will just to restrain herself from reacting visibly.

_He's behaving like a barbarian king. _Nimue thought with a deep sense of disappointment. _This wasn't how I would've imagined a leader of a spacefaring empire to behave._

Then again the Goa'uld Empire was nothing like what she'd imagine such an empire to be like either

_Who'd have thought that it would be nothing but a feudal empire. Seriously, it's like they're living in the Middle Ages with how everyone from individual warlords to loose coalitions like this House of Eire I'm supposedly a part of are continuously fighting for dominance._

Nimue's musings were suddenly interrupted by Oisin raising his hand for silence.

Pushing aside a nude Asian woman who had been servicing him with her mouth and adjusting his robes, the Fleet Lord stood.

"**Ah. Before the feast gets too rowdy, I have orders to issue." **Oisin said distractedly, his eyes roaming the sea of pliant flesh that was his harem.

"**Nimue," **he barked unexpectedly, tearing his eyes away from his slaves.

"**Yes, Lord Oisin?"** Nimue replied as she stood and offered a bow, holding it as she awaited her orders.

"**Once this feast is over, I will hand over command of this ship to you."**

_This ship? If her genetic memory served her correctly, this was an older model Ha'tak, the main class of capital ship employed by most Goa'uld. _Nimue noted, even as Oisin continued speaking.

"**In addition, I will transfer a squadron of Al'kesh as well."**

_Al'kesh as well? With a Ha'tak and a squadron of Al'kesh, I would have a decent scout force at my command._

Confirming her thoughts, Oisin finished his orders.

"**You will then proceed to use this force to head to the borders of the Empire and begin exploring uncharted space beyond them."**

_A good first assignment for a new Goa'uld. _Nimue noted. _One with enough responsibility to test my skills, but which doesn't involve the expense of enough resources that writing me off should I fail or get myself killed would prove much of a setback._

"**I hear and obey, Lord Oisin," **Nimue accepted with genuine graciousness.

This was a remarkable opportunity. If her luck held, she might be able to find a habitable world that she might be able to lay claim to and take one step closer to building a stable power base. Something she knows she'll need to survive the Empire's deadly politics.

_How am I not freaking out at all this!? _Nimue asked herself, shocked at how calm she was even as she retook her seat. She knew that everything that had happened in the feast so far would have terrified the girl who had first gotten abroad this ship.

_Is this another effect of what I've become?_

With his orders given, Oisin turned to address the rest of the hall.

"**Now let's continue to enjoy this feast. It is rare that our duties allows us such a chance to satisfy ourselves, so let us make the best of it." **

His statement was met by an enthusiastic cheer of agreement from the other Goa'uld though Nimue doubted Oisin heard it as he had already returned to the pleasures of his harem.

For Nimue's own part, she just sat there in silence and wished for the feast to end.

* * *

That night, Nimue stood in her opulent quarters on her newly acquired ship as her attendants, the two who had helped her dress earlier, helped her out of it. It took a few minutes, but soon the Goa'uld was as nude as the day she was born. She briefly considered putting on some sleepwear but dismissed the notion and the servants in a single dismissive wave of her hand. She was too tired. All she wanted was to sleep.

She waited for the servants to bow deeply to her and depart her chambers before all but collapsing in the massive four poster bed at the center of her chambers. As she lay there, she carefully lifted her right hand and fought the shame that blossomed in her chest at the sight of it, as it reminded her of what she'd done.

As the feast had progressed, Oisin had noticed that Nimue had not partook fully in the festivities. Even Ancasta had snatched herself a handsome slave or two to entertain herself as the night drew on, much less the handful of other female Goa'uld who were being serviced by their harems. At which point, the Fleet Lord had chuckled and told her that she was free to select any slave not already owned by the others to entertain herself.

Nimue had been horrified but had been too afraid of the consequences to refuse. She briefly considered ordering one of the men to come to her side like Ancasta had done but the mere thought had her stomach churning as memories of her experiences with Astox surfaced in her mind. As such, she'd instead picked out one of the female dancers. A pretty Caucasian girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

What she'd been forced to do next under the watchful eyes of the other Goa'uld disgusted her. They had cheered and egged her own as she'd used her right hand to ravish the poor girl. Worse, when she was done the girl had thanked her for it, declaring that she was honored to have served her goddess!

It made Nimue want to vomit, but as back then and now, she suppressed the urge.

_As abhorrent as all this is, I have to do this. I have to keep pretending to be a Goa'uld. My life depends on it._

Thankfully, the feast had ended shortly after that and Nimue had not been forced to violate another girl. She didn't know if she would be able to survive with her sanity intact if she had.

As it was, she just wanted to forget it for now. The feast. Being a Goa'uld now. Everything! She just wanted to go to sleep and set those things all aside for the moment.

Perhaps responding to her desires, Nimue felt her magic stirring and immediately felt the pull of sleep. Smiling, she let the pull take her without resistance and drifted into the realm of dreams.

Or at least that's where she ended up.

Because from one conscious moment to the next, she suddenly found herself in the Leaky Cauldron.

_This is impossible. Based on Nantosuelta's memories, it's only the Bronze Age. The Leaky Cauldron can't possibly exist yet. Wait! I'm dreaming, aren't I? _Nimue chuckled to herself as she realized she was being silly.

Perhaps being silly was the right thing to do though, as the amusement at her mistake had lifted her spirit more than anything had for months. Thus it was with a smile that she walked to the bar of the pub to place her order.

As she walked by the packed tables she noticed how all of the patrons, none of whom she recognized, were staring at her.

_That must be because I was making a fool of myself earlier by staring into space. _Nimue reasoned. _Heck, this is my dream right? I say that's the reason, so it is._

Chuckling to herself, she ordered a butterbeer from the unfamiliar bartender. He reflexively poured her a pint from the tap and handed it over.

Ignoring the still lingering stares, chalking them down to some weird part of her subconscious that must want to be the center of attention for some reason, Nimue gulped down her drink.

As she finished, she let out a satisfied but highly unladylike burp.

"That really hits the spot." Nimue declared with a smile. "I missed butterbeer, you know? I never thought I would, but I do."

The bartender just nodded robotically.

Nimue sighed, "Guess I can't expect good conversation from a dream. Well, I guess I better go. Wonder what other interesting dreams I can conjure up tonight."

With that last enthusiastic statement, Nimue blinked away.

She thus missed how the pub exploded into uproar the moment she disappeared as everyone started talking all at once with variations of one question "What was she?"

"Quiet!" A woman with long brown hair and aristocratic looks shouted as she stepped forward.

The pub's patrons obeyed and settled down.

"We don't have any answers as yet," she told the pub. "But we will. I personally volunteer to go observe this Nimue woman and find them."

There were some murmuring in the crowd, but no one openly disagreed.

"Then, it's decided." The brunette said with finality. "By consensus of the Others, I Ganos Lal will discover Nimue's secrets."

* * *

**And done!**

**In this chapter, I've given you a glimpse into Goa'uld culture as I conceive it to be and how utterly hedonistic I think it must be. I mean, hedonism isn't always just pleasure for pleasure's sake. In many cases, it's a show of power whereby the hedonist is showing the world that he has the power to enjoy that kind of lifestyle. Taking that into account, I'm fairly certain that the Goa'uld would embrace it. We have proof they like ostentatiousness in their excessive use of gold everywhere in their architecture, after all. And what's more hedonistic and more of a show of power than sexual slavery. Hence, why I portrayed the Goa'uld feast the way I did. **

**And now poor Nimue has to become one of them. How long do you think her morals will last? Well, wait and see.**

**Moving on, I tried to subtly point out in this chapter Nimue's gradual shifting identities and how they haven't fully settled. At least not in this chapter. Not in regards to her new name, that she's fully embraced. But rather in how she sometimes accepts she's a Goa'uld and other times rejects it. These weren't typos on my part but deliberate inconsistencies to show she's still coming to terms with things. Hope you guys caught it.**

**Now before signing off I would just like to say that as this chapter shows, this story is based on an AU of the Stargateverse. It's early (pre-show) history as outlined in **_**Stargate SG-1: Living Gods: Stargate System Lords **_**the canonicity of which is unconfirmed will be altered to fit what I intend. Here are three major changes I've made:**

**1) The Lanteans returned to the Milky Way earlier**

**2) Ra found Earth before Apep's fall**

**3) The Goa'uld arose in a largely empty galaxy due to the Ori plague having a more lasting impact and thus avoided early conflicts with the Asgard and Furlings**

**Okay, and I'll end off with some review responses for those I wanted to but couldn't reply to via PM as they reviewed as a guest or that I wanted to broadcast:**

**MarisAres: This might come across as overly defensive so forgive me in advance if that's the case just trying to lay out my thinking in response to your imho good review. So let me address the points you raised:**

**1) The sex change reflecting more on me than an else is probably true. I like genderbenders, don't ask me why I just do. And things I like will appear in the fic here and there. I'll try to work them in logically to the best of my ability, but if I fail then too bad. I'm not out to write Shakespeare here, just have fun. If I can't work in some of the concepts I find most entertaining then it wouldn't be fun and I wouldn't write it. **

**2) As for drama over the sex change? I might not be clear in the story and the previous ANs but I'm glossing over it because that's not the story I want to tell and am moving on to what I enjoy instead. Is it a cop out? Definitely, but again I'm not trying to write a literary classic. I'm just having fun. **

**3) FYI, since you brought up how a man would understand becoming a woman would be traumatic, I _am_ a straight man and I do have some idea why it would be deeply traumatic. That I'm choosing to not focus on that is a conscious decision on my part.****  
**

**greenespeon1995: You asked if my characters will meet SG 1? Of course! It won't be for a long while though. The story is currently in the pre-Canon timeframe, like thousands of years before any members of SG-1 are even born. Don't fret though, I've already written out the relevant chapters, it's just a matter of getting there.**

**Lastly, I want to thank everyone who favourited, followed or reviewed this fic. At 12 reviews, 74 favourites, and 105 follows at the time of this chapter's posting and only for 3 chapters this make this my most successful story so far. That's not saying much since it's a relatively small following but I nevertheless want to offer my thanks.**

**And that's all I have to say this chapter. Till next time, peace out.**


	5. Battle on the Frontier

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter Five: Battle on the Frontier**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

Years after receiving command of her little exploratory flotilla, Nimue sits on the command throne of her Ha'tak, _Hedwig_, as it cruised through hyperspace. Yes, she'd named her mothership after her long lost familiar. It was a fitting tribute, in her mind at least, to her first friend. Though her subjects, of course, had no idea where the name came from and had chalked it to some divine inspiration on the part of their goddess.

She probably should have been paying attention to the various status displays on the central screen, like she'd drilled her Jaffa to do at all times, to set a good example and all. But there was honestly nothing worth her attention. All systems were fine and there were nothing untoward on the sensors, which was unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. She thus had nothing to do except to feel bored.

A state of affairs she had come to be more familiar with than she would've liked. She'd been exploring unknown space beyond the charted borders of the Goa'uld Empire for years and discovering nothing.

_That's not entirely true_, she realized after some thought. _I've found plenty of significant mineral deposits including sizable deposits of Naquadah and Trinium. More than enough to earn me a hefty amount of favor with Oisin at least._

Not that any of that interested her. No, what had really caught her interest among her discoveries were the many ruins from dead races, though none advanced enough to be of interest to the Empire they had fascinated her to the point that a whole hold of her ship had been converted into a veritable museum for her choice picks of recovered artifacts.

_I know some of the other Goa'uld and even some of my Jaffa think I'm eccentric for doing it but I can't help it. _Nimue thought to herself with a sigh. As expected her Jaffa noticed immediately, highly attuned as always to her every action, but she just waved their concern away and continued to stare aimlessly out at the hyperspace tunnel on the screen at the front of the Pel'tak.

The galaxy was a vast place after all and intelligent life would be relatively rare. Even the Empire with its great size, amounting to a significant fraction of the entire galaxy only had sporadic contact with other races. In fact, outside of the hostile and thankfully isolationist Asgard they had not encountered any advanced civilizations. At least none advanced enough to avoid subjugation or extermination. It seemed that for the most part the galaxy was empty.

_How very disappointing. _

While she understood that space was immense and her _Hedwig_'s hyperdrive took years to just travel between star systems, a part of her had childishly dreamed of repeating the lucky feat that Ra had accomplished when he had discovered Earth and the human race after his desperate flight from the Asgard in the wake of a foolhardy attempt at engaging the technologically superior aliens. A discovery that had earned him elevation directly from minor Underlord to a seat on the Council of System Lords.

_Honestly though flights of fancy aside, surely it's about time I found a habitable world and not some desolate wasteland with some scattered ruins. _

Feeling the urge to sigh, she suppressed it. Her Jaffa might be familiar with her eccentricities by now but it was always best not to push the envelope. After all, wasn't that why Maialay was even now waiting patiently in her quarters. The girl which Nimue had shamefully taken advantage of at Oisin's feast all those years ago and who the Fleet Lord had subsequently gifted to her to serve as her first concubine.

Even now Nimue felt ashamed of what she'd done back then but that paled in comparison to her guilt at keeping up the charade. She had taken on no more concubines but she'd not abstained from Maialay's company either. It was after all _expected _for a Goa'uld to have bed thralls and Nimue couldn't afford to rock the boat.

_Or more accurately I'm too afraid to. _

Nimue knew she could get away with much on such a remote posting as the one she had been given. Yet, she hadn't turned the woman away even when she was far enough away from scrutiny to have done so. Part of her, she feared, had come to enjoy exploring the carnal pleasures with a obedient and willing slave.

_Maybe I should just retire? _Nimue thought, as images of what she could do to Maialay crossed her mind.

_No, _the former witch declared decisively. _I will not become a slave to my lust. I will never be a slave. Never again._

_But what then can I do? _Nimue pondered as her thoughts returned to her original problem. _Organize a feast?_

She definitely had the supplies for it. Oisin had made sure of that, having specially earmarked resources for such in her stores upon her departure and continued to resupply her with such at every opportunity.

_No, that would just be a frivolous waste of resources. _The Goa'uld dismissed.

It was thinking like this that had allowed her to convert said feasting resources into food reserves and allowed her to stock her Al'kesh with enough supplies to operate with twice the range than they would have otherwise, thus increasing the speed that she was conducting her surveys.

_I'm probably not the only one who's done that, but I doubt many other Goa'uld could bring themselves to be so pragmatic. _Nimue mused with pride.

_Speaking of pragmatism…_ The Goa'uld thought to herself with a smirk as she was hit with an idea on how to pass her time. _I guess going on an inspection tour of the Hedwig is in order._

With her decision made, she stood from her throne. Immediately, the crew at all the non-essential stations bowed to her. In a by now reflexive motion, she absentmindedly waved for them to rise and stalked off, a pair of Jaffa following behind her as her shadows.

They wore their full armor with their helmets fully deployed. Unlike the elaborate deer shaped helms of Oisin's Jaffa however Nimue had instead opted for something far more plain and settled for a helmet mimicking the barrel shaped knightly helms that she recalled from her History lessons as Harry. That it had less of a profile and made her Jaffa less easy targets was a happy coincidence.

Walking down the corridors of her ship, Nimue could feel the energy flowing through its many power conduits and their inefficiencies.

_Still it's running a lot better than when I first got it. _The young Goa'uld thought with a proud smirk. Well deserved, in her own opinion at least, since the improvements had been thanks to her tinkering with its systems in her abundant spare time.

With so much time on her hands over the course of her mission she'd become quite the tinkerer. Combining knowledge from her genetic memory, things she'd learned or seen as Harry Potter and the ability of her new nature to sense and manipulate energy, Nimue had come up with a whole host of ideas for improving Goa'uld technology. She'd even taking to coming up with new ship designs, though even she would admit they were poor at best. Nevertheless they and her tinkering in general were a fun distraction. She hazarded this was how Goa'uld scientists were born.

Though she had no intention of walking that path. Scientists among the Empire held no power and were often treated like commodities to be traded, captured or disposed off at the whims of the System Lords. That was a fate little better than a slave and something Nimue would rather die than return to being.

Her mind was wrenched from her unpleasant thoughts when she suddenly felt an equally unpleasant churning in her gut.

_Argh. Again? _Nimue winced, barely suppressing a more visible display of discomfort.

_Distraction! I need a distraction. _The Goa'uld thought as she picked up her stride, but not to the point of seeming to be hurrying, towards the nearest ring platform. Once there she waited impatiently for her guards to enter the radius of the rings before activating them via a thought to her kara kesh hand device.

In a flash of light, the rings deposited her and her entourage at another station just outside of a storage compartment. One which she had declared off limits to everyone but herself. Not even Maialay, who functioned as her Lo'taur or personal attendant in addition to her role as her concubine, was allowed entry.

The crew believes its for her to store her hoard of treasures, namely those artifacts too valuable to be stored even in her museum.

_If only they knew. _Nimue thought with a amused smirk as she signaled to her guards.

Well trained as they were, her shadows immediately moved to take positions on either side of the door.

Smiling at them and nodding in approval, she stepped towards the door which opened as her kara kesh transmitted the appropriate authorization codes. They slid open to revealed a darkened room, but she walked in fearlessly.

The lights came on in sync with the doors closing behind her and revealing a modestly sized but completely empty room. She paid the room no notice though as she waited for the doors to fully close, once they had she immediately spun around and pointed at them with one hand.

_Colloportus!_ The former witch thought, sending the colorless wave of magic that was the Locking Spell flying from her hands.

She waited till the spell fully fell into place and sealed the door shut against any unwanted intruders before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Phew! Finally!" The frustrated young woman vented. "Not being able to speak my mind is a pain!"

That this was made worse by having to wear the mask of a tyrannical goddess went without saying.

Though Nimue's relief was swiftly crushed when she felt another burst of pain from her gut, reminding her once more of why she'd come down to this empty room.

"Can't you lot just be a more patient!?" Nimue scolded the flat expanse of her womb or more precisely the multitude of tiny larvae she know her Goa'uld body had filled it with. "I know you're all desperate to get released but it isn't safe yet!"

The pain subsided a little at that, but she knew it wouldn't last. The urge to spawn had been getting worse lately but she knew that if she _did _spawn then she would shortly become a target for any and all Goa'uld in search of a Queen to serve as their broodmare. A fate no better than a slave.

As such, she'd been fighting the growing urge by distracting herself. Most anything would do the trick at most times. Except when the urge was at its worst. At those times, the only way to calm down is to exhaust herself magically.

At that thought, the pain came back with a vengeance.

"Ow! You rascals! You just want to see some magic don't you?" Nimue scolded. "What naughty kids I have. Oh well, guess I can't help it. Be glad, you brats, mummy's giving you a show."

The pain in her abdomen faded, and Nimue huffed in annoyance. Her larvae were so bloody demanding!

Despite her griping though, she waved her hands at the walls of the room and thought of the incantation for the spell she wanted.

_Protego!_

A wave of invisible magic flowed from Nimue and imbued the walls of the empty cargo room with the protective power of the shield charm or more accurately added to the layers upon layers of the existing magic that persisted within from repeated castings over the years. Together this magic, now much more than a mere shield charm, greatly reinforced these walls. A fact that was very necessary considering the purpose Nimue had put the room to.

"Bombarda!" Nimue shouted her hands crossed under her ample bosom, causing a line of powerful explosions to spontaneously occur following her line of sight until she cut the flow of her magic into the spell.

Fishing out four marbles from her pockets Nimue tossed them into the air and with a thought of _Draconifors_ transfigured them into four pocket sized dragons that with a mental command she had circle the room and breath fire along the walls. Contrary to their size, these tiny terrors unleashed torrents of flames that would have made the Hungarian Horntail from the First Task envious and soon the room was engulfed in a mighty conflagration.

Nimue stood amid the flames unharmed, the tongues of fire giving her a respectful wide berth as befitting things conjured and sustained by her magic. She looked at the sea of flames and frowned though.

_Ugh. What was I thinking? I hate fire!_ Nimue mused with distaste as she stamped her feet on the ground. The moment her foot touched the ground, a massive geyser of water burst up all around her. The water flooded the room, easily smothering the fire and drowning the dragons who upon death returned to being harmless marbles.

Standing underwater, but looking utterly unaffected Nimue snapped her fingers and the water disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.

All except for a pair of large spheres that hovered in mid-air on either side of their conjurer.

Nodding her hand, bullets shot out of the masses of water and reshaped themselves according to her will and slammed themselves against the room's reinforced walls. At the same time, Nimue cast every offensive spell she could remember from her time at Hogwarts and even some of her own creation.

_Which was a surprisingly easy thing to do, _Nimue mused as she snapped her fingers and sent a lightning bolt crashing into the far wall. _I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be as easy as just thinking about what I want and letting my magic fill in the blanks. _

She was fairly certain that she'd once heard mention about how Spell Creation was supposed to be an exhaustive and dangerous occupation. But for her, it was just second nature.

_Hooray for whatever magical creature I've become I guess? Well, can't complain! Not when it let's me do stuff like this!_

In between Nimue's cupped hands, was a miniature lightning storm that she'd conjured. One that with a hearty laugh, she threw overhead where it quickly filled the room, unleashing torrents of rain and a forest of lightning.

Standing in the middle of her storm, Nimue laughed with innocent mirth and spun around while singing "Singin' in the Rain".

_I haven't had this much fun in ages!_

* * *

A week later, Nimue could only wish she was able to take time off to have fun like that again. Well, technically, nothing was stopping her. But she was too dutiful a person to neglect her duties. Thus despite her desire to be elsewhere, as the _Hedwig _dropped out of hyperspace in a predetermined system to meet up with the Al'kesh which had been scouting nearby space, she was once more seated on her command throne on the Pel'tak.

_It's probably just going to the typical reports about nothing important again. _Nimue thought with resignation as the Ha'tak prepared to exit hyperspace.

At least Maialay was at her side. The still beautiful woman, despite having just entered her late twenties, would be more than able to entertain her if she grew bored. They would just need to retreat to an adjacent alcove and the privacy it afforded for that. Though she'd only resort to that if things got _really _boring.

Almost as soon as they returned to real space, this move paid dividends. They had barely even finished transiting out of hyperspace when they were hailed by one of the Al'kesh scouts.

"My goddess!" The breathlessly excited Jaffa captain greeted as the comm link was established.

_He must have found something. _Nimue concluded with a eyebrow raised in curiosity as she wondered what it might be.

"Report, Captain." The Goa'uld barked, letting none of her own enthusiasm slip.

"I've discovered a world, my lady! A habitable world. With a Chappa'ai!" The Jaffa said with a wide and proud grin, before adding somewhat apologetically. "Though it has been buried."

"**No matter!" **Nimue shouted in the deep, booming voice that Goa'uld used when trying to flaunt their superiority or in this case when they were overly emotional. She was so ecstatic in fact that she almost missing the Captain's flinch as he misinterpreted her words. Backtracking quickly, she clarified herself. "**We can simply dig the gate up at a later date! You've done well Captain and will be richly rewarded for your success."**

"I thank you, my lady, but I was only doing my duty."

"Nonsense," Nimue assured the Captain. "Duty or no, success must be rewarded. But we will discuss the specifics of that later. For now, dock your ship with the _Hedwig_. I want to see your discovery."

"At once, my lady." The Captain said with a deep bow, even as the comm link was cut at a gesture from Nimue.

Turning to Zintar, her First Prime, Nimue began issuing orders.

"Zintar," she addressed the stern faced Jaffa. "Have all the other Al'kesh dock as well. Once they are secure set a course for the system with the world that the Captain spoke of immediately."

"Yes, my lady." The commander of her Jaffa replied with a nod.

"In the meantime, I need to speak with Lord Oisin and inform him of our discovery." Nimue continued. "Until I return, Zintar you have command."

"Your word is law, my lady." The senior warrior said, offering her a salute though his eyes swam with disapproval.

Nimue felt a bout of unease at that, even amidst her excitement. She knew Zintar resented being seconded to her service by Oisin, even though it came with the elevation to the status of First Prime, as it meant that he has less chance for the glory in battle that all Jaffa craved.

_I'll just have to keep trying to make up for it and hope that eventually it'll earn his loyalty. _Nimue mused hopefully as she stood.

"Maialay come, we have to speak with Lord Oisin."

With her Lo'taur and her two shadows following dutifully behind her, Nimue swept out of the Pel'tak to deliver the good news to her superiors.

* * *

A couple of years later, Nimue stood on a balcony attached to her quarters at the top of a massive pyramid and looked out at the sight of a growing city. This was Gryffindor. _Her _city. The capital of Hogwarts. The world which she had discovered after years for searching and had claimed for her own. Well, mostly her own anyways.

As she'd expected, Oisin had responded to her news two years ago by ordering her to colonize the world and use it as a base for further expansion into the local region of space. All in the name of the House of Éire of course.

Though Harry didn't mind the association, for now at least. Not when it allowed her to receive assistance with the establishment of her colony in the form of a steady stream of resources, including settlers, via the Chappa'ai once she'd dug it up.

That had helped the colony grow quickly. Though she suspected that had more to do with the human he'd sent to serve as her new Lo'taur named Morgan after Nimue finally forced Maialay to retire.

That was a difficult thing to do in itself. Maialay had been a loyal and dutiful servant and bedmate for the duration of her service and Nimue was pleased with her, perhaps even slightly in love with her. But now that she was more secure in her place within the Empire, a minor Planetary Lord outranked a Fleet Lord of an exploratory flotilla by a large margin, Nimue could no longer find excuses to assuage her guilt at keeping a glorified sex slave. Thus after making appropriate arrangements for Maialay's future, she had let the woman go.

Not that her former concubine saw things that way. Before her departure, she had met her replacement and had noted that Morgan like all of the personal attendants employed by the Goa'uld with her long brown hair and aristocratic features was stunningly beautiful. Maialay had thus thought she'd been replaced by a newer, younger woman.

It hurt Nimue to hurt the woman who she'd shared almost two decades of her life like that, but she couldn't correct her misconception. Not when doing so would reveal a little too much about herself than she thought was safe. As a result, their parting was rather bitter.

Especially since there was no truth to Maialay's suspicions. It was not her looks that made Morgan so special. That honor went to her incredible skill at administration. She was so adept at her role that Nimue had quickly handed over all management of the colony to her capable hands.

Though considering the traces of magic she sensed from the woman, Nimue suspects that part of her genius likely had supernatural origins.

_It is fortunate that whatever gifts she possesses seems to have slipped the notice of the other Goa'uld. _The Planetary Lord mused as she turned away from the view of Gryffindor, and walked back into her quarters proper.

She sent a idle wave to the dozens of her children happily swimming in a large floating orb of water suspended by a self-sustaining spell she'd cast on the water as she passed. Several of them swam up to the edge of the aquarium to offer floating kisses back, causing her to smile and send them a flying kiss of her own in return.

After finally gaining the relative security of a planet, and facing admittedly increasingly unbearable urges, Nimue had finally given in and spawned her larvae. Though she continued to keep it a secret. She was not yet powerful enough to let the rest of the Empire know that she was a Queen just yet.

Giving her children another smile, she walked over to a large holographic display that occupied the center of her quarters' main room.

_Spawning isn't the only thing that having Hogwarts has allowed me to do. It's let me experiment with my tinkering too. _Nimue noted as she examined the schematics for the _Hedwig_ that was on display.

With the settling of Hogwarts, Nimue had been able had to implement many upgrades to the _Hedwig _that she had deemed too risky to install when it was their primary habitat. Her biggest upgrade had been the overhaul of its power systems, something which had led to a boost in power efficiency and corresponding shield and weapon strength of 25%.

_There's still plenty of room for improvement though. _Nimue noted as she began modifying the schematics in the hologram, trying to further enhance the Ha'tak's systems.

Nimue was so engrossed in her work on a set of new upgrades to the _Hedwig_'s weapons that she was startled when the chime for an incoming comms link on her kara kesh went off.

Quickly collecting herself, she answered the call with all the poise she'd mastered in the years since she became a Goa'uld.

"What is it?" Nimue demanded haughtily.

"Apologies, my lady," a young female servant said with a apologetic bow. "You requested that we remind you when it was time to depart for the planetary survey."

"I'll be there shortly." The Goa'uld said brusquely, cutting the link.

She wasn't the least bit upset though, in fact she was giddy with excitement.

_I can't wait to see how far we've come._ Nimue thought to herself as she all but skipped towards the ring platform that would take her to her palace's docking bay where the Al'kesh she would using for the survey awaited.

* * *

Abroad the aforementioned Al'kesh a few minutes later, Nimue surveyed the progress of Gryffindor's group from a true bird's eye perspective that surpassed even the view from her palace balcony. Escorted by a dozen Death Gliders, the Al'kesh circled the city and allowed Nimue as well as her entourage of Morgan and Zintar a good view of the flourishing town as it steadily expanded in a grid pattern from the central pyramid at its heart that served as the Hedwig's landing platform, the city's administrative centre and Nimue's palace.

"We're growing quickly." Nimue mused. "Morgan, what's the latest population figures?"

"As of our census last year, Gryffindor accounts for approximately 200, 000 people. In addition to other lesser settlements, our total population is about 380, 000."

Eying the rings of fertile farms and small hamlets that encircled Gryffindor and which the Al'kesh was now flying over, Nimue posed another question for her advisors.

"And our food production is keeping pace?"

"Yes, my lady. With the fertilizers we're using, we're maximizing the productivity of the amount of land we can work with our current workforce. As a result, we've actually managed to achieve a modest surplus for this year."

"That's barring unforeseen circumstances interfering with the harvest." Zintar chimed in.

"You are correct, Prime Zintar," Morgan said giving the Jaffa a bow. "In that case, we'll need to dip into our stores which thanks to the generous provisions Lord Oisin have provided us are more than enough to last us a year or two of hard times."

Nimue nodded, satisfied that the food situation was under control and turned to address the ship's captain.

"Captain, take us to the mine."

"As you command, my lady." The Jaffa commander replied as he turned his ship south.

They flew over rolling hills with increasingly sparser farms until the cultivated land fully gave way to wild woodland, save for a lone road cut into the forest. They followed the road for a full minutes before the ship took up a hovering position over a mine built to exploit a modest Naquadah deposit.

"How's the mine doing?" Nimue gestured to the newly constructed buildings attached to a hillside like limpets that made up the mine.

"It's just began operations," Morgan informed her. "Though the latest test digs indicates that its likely to prove more profitable than initially suspected. The deposit might be small, but the purity of the Naquadah here is proving unexpectedly high."

Nimue and Zintar both shot Morgan slightly alarmed looks at that.

"Have we informed Lord Oisin of this?" Nimue asked urgently.

"Yes, as you ordered we forwarded the news by courier as soon as we got it. It should reach him by today." Morgan replied hesitantly as Zintar winced and Nimue ground her teeth in frustration.

"My Lady, we have a problem," the First Prime said warily.

"I know," Nimue hissed. "Damn it! I should have been more clear with my instructions. At least told them to get my authorization before passing the news along."

"My lady, what's the matter?" Morgan asked, worry shining in her eyes.

"The matter is-"

Nimue's explanation was cut off when the Al'kesh's control panel began beeping to indicate an incoming hail.

Nimue exchanged a wary look with Zintar.

_This is either Oisin demanding I hand over Hogwarts to someone more senior who can 'better manage' the mine or something worse. _Nimue whined in the safety of her own mind. _With my rotten luck with good things, that's gotta be it._

Nodding to the Captain to accept the comms link, Nimue was greeted with the nervous face of one of her other Al'kesh Captains. One that she'd ordered to patrol the system.

"My lady," the Jaffa greeted with a bow.

"Save the pleasantries. Report!"

The Jaffa gulped but nodded.

"My Lady, I have just engaged an unidentified Al'kesh. I regret to inform you that I only managed to drive it off."

"It survived then?" Nimue asked, needing confirmation.

"Yes, my lady." The Captain on the line said nervously.

"**Damnation!" **Nimue cursed in the unnaturally booming voice the Goa'uld sometimes used, her eyes glowing gold and with a frustrated punch to the Al'kesh's control panel.

Turning to Zintar, she saw the man was as agitated as she was though he held it in far better than she did.

"Zintar," the Goa'uld addressed her First Prime. "Prepare for an invasion."

The veteran warrior just gave her a resigned nod.

Everyone was so caught up in the fearful prospect of an attack that none of them had the sense of mind to notice the slight smirk that Morgan sported at this latest development.

* * *

Nimue stood on the Pel'tak of the _Hedwig _awaiting the attack she knows is coming since the contact with the unidentified Al'kesh from a few days ago. After the encounter, she'd issued the orders needed to prepare for the incoming assault and had contacted Oisin for reinforcements.

Unfortunately, he'd rebuffed her. Instead, he had ordered her to hold her ground. The only silver lining, if any, in their conversation was that he considered her valuable enough to advise her to retreat if the enemy proved too powerful. In his eyes, with her proven track record of accomplishments, minor though they were, she was worth more than a barely established colony.

She didn't agree though. She wasn't about to abandon all that she'd worked for. No, she would fight. To the bitter end if need be! She wouldn't turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble. She hadn't done that as Harry Potter and she certainly wouldn't do that as Nimue!

Sufficiently psyched up for the day, Nimue turned to Zintar.

"Any updates on the preparations?"

"We've extended the trenches by another mile since yesterday, my lady." Zintar reported as ordered. "But I must question their utility."

"Oh, I know they're probably pointless if we lose the orbital battle." Nimue replied, recognizing how useless trenches would be against orbital bombardment. "But they will at least help to strengthen the city's defenses in the event that the enemy manages a landing and more importantly the joint effort will build solidarity among my subjects."

"I see," the First Prime said sounding skeptical. She couldn't blame him. She was too.

"Moving on," the veteran warrior said after a moment. "The _Hedwig _is operating at full capacity and at your disposal, my lady. The 18 Al'kesh of Lion, Badger and Raven squadrons and the various squadrons of gliders spread between the _Hedwig _and the hangers in the Gryffindor central pyramid are as well. The 6 Al'kesh of Snake squadron however remain away on survey missions as commanded by Lord Oisin."

"No change to our fleet then," Nimue acknowledged.

Zintar raised an eyebrow at her phrasing but nodded in agreement.

They lapsed into silence then, both anxiously waiting for the moment of truth. Hours passed, the Pel'tak silent save for the professional back and forth of the bridge crew as they carried out their duties, though it was tinged with nervous anticipation.

Despite all their tense expectation, when the the alarm klaxons finally roared to life everyone still started in surprise.

"Sensors, report!" Nimue barked.

"The enemy has just dropped out of hyperspace." The sensor officer replied, looking down at his instruments. "I'm reading two Ha'taks and a dozen Al'kesh."

Nimue nodded, wearing a look of supreme confidence. Inside though, she was sweating bullets.

_Crap! _Nimue cursed. _This is within the realm of my predictions of what an enemy would bring to bear but on the high end._ _With that second Ha'tak, I'm outgunned. _

"My lady, we're receiving a hail form the what appears to be the enemy flagship." The comms officer informed her.

"On screen."

At her command, the starfield beyond the ship that had previously filled the central viewscreen was abruptly replaced with the visage of a Goa'uld with a dark-skinned man with oddly East Asian features for a host.

"I am Amatsu-Mikaboshi. You are outgunned. Surrender," the enemy demanded contemptuously.

"I am Nimue," the woman who had once been called the Savior of the Wizarding world declared defiantly. "And you can have my surrender over my dead body!"

"So be it," Amatsu-Mikaboshi replied curtly.

* * *

"So be it," the enemy god spat back, not at all moved by Lady Nimue's defiance.

"Cut the link," Zintar's goddess ordered the comms officer. And what a strange thing it was to have Jaffa assigned permanently to a station. It improved the warrior in question's proficiency with his assigned systems dramatically though and that had benefited the running of the ship as a whole a great deal. One of a number of novel innovations that his goddess had introduced.

"Order the Lion and Badger squadrons and all gliders to attack the incoming enemy strike craft." Lady Nimue ordered, pulling Zintar away from his admiring thoughts for a moment.

Despite them however, he could not help but be skeptical that they could win this fight. His goddess had masterfully predicted what the enemy might send against them, but that would do little good. Not when it appears one of her worse case scenarios, though admittedly not the worst of all, had come to pass.

_We shouldn't be fighting but fleeing instead. _Zintar reasoned, though his honor dictated he stay the course set by his goddess and she'd made up her mind long ago. _For all her virtues, she is stubborn._ _And as I suspected from the very start, that stubbornness will mean that serving her will only offer me a inglorious death._

Deaths like the ones being dealt out on screen as the strike craft from both sides engaged each other as things quickly devolved into a vicious engagement as plasma bolts flew in all directions against friend and foe alike.

_The enemy are more skilled than we are. _Zintar noted with a frown as he noticed that the enemy's forces are reaping a greater toll on his men than his are dealing in return.

"Have all the enemy strike craft been engaged? Any sign of reserves?"

"No, my lady." The sensors officer reported dutifully, even as Zintar saw how tense the young warrior was as his instruments reported the ever increasing death toll. "All enemy strike craft appear to be engaged."

A smirk spread across his Lady's face and Zintar worried that it might be premature.

"Engineering," the goddess called out eagerly. "Jump! Now!"

"At once, my lady," The Jaffa manning the engineering station complied eagerly.

With a brief burst of blue light, the _Hedwig_ disappeared from its position in orbit over Hogwarts and seconds later in another burst of blue light reappeared directly next to one of the enemy Ha'taks. It had performed a micro-jump, a feat that conventional Goa'uld hyperdrives were not capable of and yet another of the innovations gifted to them by Zintar's goddess.

"Deploy Raven!" Lady Nimue ordered unnecessarily.

Zintar had drilled his men hard for this maneuver and they knew their tasks perfectly. The moment the _Hedwig_ had reentered real space, it had dropped its shields, opened its hangars and allowed the six Al'kesh of Raven Squadron that had been waiting within to launch. All at once.

Caught completely by surprise, the enemy had no time to even orientate their guns in their direction before the _Hedwig_ raised its shields to full capacity once more. Nimue's forces had no such disadvantage. With the precision and discipline that only come with extensive training, the _Hedwig _and the Al'kesh of Raven Squadron unleashed their full firepower on the surprised Ha'tak.

To the enemy's credit, its crew made an effort to recover and began attempting to return fire. However, their gunners were obviously not ready for a fight having not anticipated getting into ship-to-ship combat for some time yet. As such, the vast majority of their shots went wide and the few that did hit depleting their shields but dealing no true damage. Considering how heavily augmented their shields were due to the upgrades the Lady had gifted them, they were more than able to deal with the drain.

The Al'kesh fared slightly worse, their shield augmentations not being as dramatic as on the _Hedwig_. But following the tactics suggested by the goddess and which Zintar himself had perfected, they fell back whenever their shields depleted beyond 20% while being screened by their peers and reentered the fray once they recovered to at least 50%. The veteran warrior had thought the tactics involved cowardly at first, depriving the warriors in the Al'kesh the chance to fight for their god to the bitter end.

However, as the enemy Ha'tak shields crumbled under the combined assault of the _Hedwig_ and Raven Squadron, he found that he needed to reevaluate his opinion.

_Raven didn't take a single loss._ The veteran warrior thought to himself in shock. _If we used a conventional tactic, then at least two, maybe three of them would have been lost._

"Enemy Ha'tak inbound," the sensors officer's shout drew Zintar out of his shock even as simultaneously the now unshielded nearer enemy ship took a hit to some vital system or other and was riddled with explosions that tore it apart from within.

"It must think our shields are depleted." Zintar said, look at Engineering meaningfully.

"74%" The younger warrior reported with a victorious grin.

Zintar would have to correct the man later. Yes, victory seemed in the air, but nothing was certain until the curtain falls on the battlefield. It was never too late for a reversal. A proper warrior needed to be aware of that and be wary to the last, not succumb to the heady feeling of victory before the battle even ended.

"That's good enough." Lady Nimue said, while shooting Zintar a meaningful look.

_Ah! So she caught the man's inappropriate attitude too. _The First Prime noted, even as he nodded in acknowledgement that he would speak to the man later.

"Jump!" The goddess ordered.

Again with a burst of blue light, Nimue's Ha'tak vanished only to reappear in another blue burst next to the enemy mothership. This time the enemy seemed better prepared for their sudden appearance and its staff cannon unleashed a sustained barrage that ate away at the _Hedwig_'s shields even as Nimue's flagship returned the favor.

Zintar was uncertain of their odds if they continued like that in a standard exchange of fire however, the enemy had seemingly completely forgotten about Raven Squadron. Thus as the six Al'kesh charged in at full sub-light speed, the enemy's interception fire was anemic and belated. They thus managed to swarm the enemy all but unchallenged. Employing the some successful tactics as earlier the _Hedwig_ and Raven Squadron soon overwhelmed the enemy Ha'tak and it joined its counterpart as a flaming wreck.

"Shields," Lady Nimue ordered for an update.

"12%"

The goddess tsked but otherwise showed no sign of disappointment.

"Order Raven to assist the rest of our forces." She ordered. "We'll hold position here for the moment while the shields recharge."

Lady Nimue waited to see the comms officer begin relaying her orders before she turned to Zintar.

"Thank you Zintar for coming up with the battle plan for today. It was what won us this victory." She told him, sounding impossibly genuine. Surely, a goddess wouldn't stoop so low as to offer her thanks to one of her subjects. The gesture at once shocked the veteran as it moved him. For all his years of service to the Goa'uld, this was the first time one of the gods ever deigned to show genuine appreciation for his efforts.

"You think too highly of me, my lady," Zintar said offering the goddess a respectful bow. "None of it would have been possible without the miraculous new magics my lady has bestowed on her humble warriors."

Even as the words left his mouth, Zintar was struck by a realization.

_I was wrong to have doubted her in the past. _

For years, despite all the benevolence and wisdom his Lady Nimue showed, he'd doubted her. She had known of course, he could read that much. But she had refused to confront him about it, instead choosing to continue to prove herself to him through her actions. Time and time again.

_She truly is worthy of my service. And I swear on all that I hold dear that I will prove myself worthy to be her First Prime._

Clearly aware of his thoughts, Nimue laughed good naturedly.

"None of that, Zintar," she told him meaningfully with a friendly smile. "None of what I did was new magic at all, it was just me applying some old magic to new uses."

_Ah! She's changing the topic to allow me to avoid embarrassing myself before my men, _Zintar concluded. _How considerate of my goddess._

"And that, my lady, shows the depths of your wisdom." Zintar said, playing along with his liege's misdirection.

"My lady," the comms officer called, cutting their conversation short. "The remaining enemy Jaffa have surrendered. We've won!"

* * *

**And done!**

**Quite a few things to say, so let's hit them by the numbers.**

**Firstly, Maialay. She's not supposed to be a recurring character. She's essentially designed to show Nimue's slide down the slippery slope into becoming pretty close to the enemy she's fighting, the Goa'uld. Her descent is not a fall off a cliff, she climbs back up somewhat sometimes like when she lets Maialay go, but for the most part her act of being a Goa'uld is slowly becoming less and less an act. **

**Secondly, Morgan. I'm sure most people reading this fic won't need me to spell out who she is but if you need a hint just search her up in a Stargate wiki, she's a canon character after all. On another note about her, for those of you who missed it, she's the cause of the coincidental timing of the invasion by Amatsu-Mikaboshi.**

**Thirdly,why make Nimue a Goa'uld Queen? Wouldn't it make her a Mary Sue? Well, there is certainly that risk however it is really the only way a Goa'uld character can effectively build an empire to challenge the Goa'uld. Without staffing the lower ranks of her empire with her own children, such a character would have to rely on Goa'uld to serve as Underlords which would undermine any efforts the character made. See what what Serqet did to Aset in Stargate Origins.  
**

**Fourthly, the space battle! How was it? It's my first ever, so some feedback would be nice. Please do let me know.**

**Lastly, I would like to raise some frustrations with the recent wave of reviews. Quite a few of them were just, and I'm rephrasing here, "I don't like xyz so I won't read". While this is perfectly fine, the lack of a substantive critique rankles me as it skews the perception potential readers get of the story based on the reviews without offering any chance to refine my writing. As a result I would like to _ask_, no more no less, that any future reviews try to at least offer something substantive. For example, if you like or don't like the story at least tell me why. I hope this isn't too much to ask for.  
**

**Review response:**

**Aging girl: Yes, things start off depressing and heartbreaking but that just things can only go up. No? Well, mostly anyways.**

**Well, that's it for today. Till next time, peace out.**


	6. Growing Years: The Idyll

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter Six: The Growing Years: The Idyll**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

Nimue leaned back into the comfortable cushions of her command throne on the Pel'tak of the _Hedwig _as it cruised through hyperspace on course back to Hogwarts after yet another victory against her enemies. She was passing the time by reviewing the latest reports, received a day ago when they'd briefly dropped out of hyperspace, from the teams she'd sent to scavenge the debris field created by the battle.

Sadly it seemed there was no sign of any useful new technology to be had from the wrecks of her rival's ships, but the battlefield nevertheless contained plenty of processed raw materials to be salvaged from the scrap.

_I'll have to send salvage teams as soon as possible before someone else does. _Nimue mused even as her flagship dropped out of hyperspace in orbit over her throne world and she dismissed the report.

She took a moment to admire the beauty of the world below through the viewscreens but was pulled away from her appreciation of the view when the comms officer informed her that there was a hail from planetside.

The Goa'uld shot a glance at Zintar to see that her First Prime had things well in hand as he coordinated her returned fleet as they headed into holding positions in orbit.

With concerns about the welfare of her sailors put to rest, Nimue allowed herself to bask in the heady excitement that she felt at being to speak to the person on the other end of the hail. She thus made no effort to hide the smile on her face as she answered the hail using the inbuilt screens of her command throne.

"I'm home, Ganos," Nimue greeted Morgan's latest incarnation, Shae, by her real name and with what she hoped was a flirtatious lilt to her voice. 'Shae' was a stunning blonde with piercing blue eyes, but despite the different appearance she was in fact very much still the same person that Nimue had taken into her service all those years ago.

The other woman's eyes sparkled in amusement though that was the only break in her mask of cool professionalism.

"Welcome back, my lady," Her lo'taur returned. "And congratulations on your victory."

"As was expected. We did outnumber Atlas' fleet." Nimue waved her accomplishment away. "How have things been at home while I was away?"

Ganos sighed, exasperated at yet another instance of Nimue downplaying her own achievements but let the matter slide. They'd had the argument over the Goa'uld's tendency to do so more times than either were willing to count and were not in the mood to repeat it. Especially since it was unlikely Nimue would ever change in this regard.

Instead, the magical being posing as a human slave began filling Nimue in on developments in her domain while she was away fighting. Aforementioned monarch however only paid the other woman's detailed report half a mind, while she employed the enhanced multitasking granted to her by her unique state of being to reflect on the first time the other woman "reincarnated" seven hundred years ago.

~Flashback Begins~

It was two days after Morgan's funeral, a grand affair as befitting the administrator whom Nimue credited for Hogwarts' steady development from a frontier colony into a up and coming core world of the Empire, and the Planetary Lord was meeting the recently departed woman's replacement.

Faye, as this new Lo'taur sent to her by Oisin was called, looked nothing like Morgan. Where her predecessor was a brunette that boasted features that wouldn't have been out of place on a noblewoman, this young woman had bright red hair, blue eyes, a round face and an athletic figure, with slightly pale skin. In other words, they looked worlds apart. Yet, to Nimue's magical senses there was no doubt. They were both the same person.

"So Morgan," Nimue asked as she lounged on a divan in one of the water gardens that dotted her palace where she'd chosen to speak with the other woman alone. "Finally decided to resume your position?"

To be honest, Nimue was mostly just amused by the whole deception. She'd seen through it long before 'Faye' had made her appearance. After all, she'd sensed Morgan's unmistakable presence lingering around the palace since her 'death' and thus was almost expecting her to reappear eventually.

"I don't understand, my lady," 'Faye' cowered, trying to keep up the charade. "My name is Faye."

"In this form perhaps," Nimue pressed, a pleasant smile on her face to show that she wasn't upset. "But you used to be Morgan. You can't fool me. I know it's true."

'Faye' blinked in surprise and seemed to ponder her options for a moment, before sighing in resignation.

"How?"

"You might look different, but you share the same magical signature. Since those are unique, you must be the same person." Nimue said with an impish smile, pleased that she'd caught the woman in the act.

"Magic?"

"Yup," Nimue confirmed. "There's no need to hide it. I knew you were magical in some way the moment I met you. I could feel your magic."

Morgan muttered something under her breath that Nimue couldn't fully catch. All she was able to decipher was something along the lines of "...thinks it's magic."

_What else could it be? _Nimue huffed in frustration, but let it slide. This was the ancient past from her original point of view, perhaps magic went by a different name in this time or at least it did among Morgan's people.

"So, Morgan," Nimue pressed ahead, letting her curiosity guide her. "What kind of creature are you?"

"I can't say."

"It's a secret?"

The redhead nodded hesitantly, as if admitting as much was a crime in itself.

Nimue could empathize, she'd had ample experience with the need for secrecy.

"Well, it's fine then," the Planetary Lord said waving the question away. "But you've got to answer me this at least. Why are you back? I thank you for your past sixty seven years of service but do you really like being bossed around so much that you're back for more?"

Nimue's teasing seemed to throw the other woman off guard, well more so than she already had been by the unexpected flow of the conversation, and she sputtered out a reflexive reply.

"You don't boss me around."

"Really?" Nimue asked, her eyebrow raised in playful skepticism.

"I've always liked administrative work."

"And where, pray tell, did you work in the past that allowed you to develop an appreciation for such things?"

Morgan's only reply was an enigmatic smile.

Nimue laughed at that.

"Hey now," the former witch said while still chuckling lightly. "Being mysterious is the Goa'uld's schtick."

"I do not believe they have a monopoly on it." Morgan quipped back.

The Goa'uld Underlord broke into another heartfelt laugh.

"Oh, it's wonderful to have you back Morgan." The Goa'uld told the other woman sincerely. "No one else dares to banter with her like this. Not even Zintar."

"That's true," Morgan agreed with a nod. "And it's not hard to see why. They respect you too much to be so casual in your presence."

"I suppose so. Which is why I appreciate having you around, as a fellow magical creature you don't see Nimue as a goddess to be worshiped."

Morgan blinked and nodded uncertainly.

"By the way, mind telling me what you are? I promise I'll tell no one."

"Apologies, Lady Nimue, but I really cannot answer that." The redhead said with an apologetic bow.

Nimue sighed in disappointment.

"Well, I guess it's alright. I understand the need to keep things secret." Nimue admitted. "Though I hope that we can be friends from now onward."

"I would like that." Morgan said with a impish smile, like she was doing something mischievous.

"You're not supposed to are you?" Nimue asked knowingly.

"No, but there's nothing that explicitly says I cannot either." The redhead admitted.

The Goa'uld smirked conspiratorial. "It'll be our little secret."

"Indeed," the other woman said. "But if we're to be friends, then you should call me by my real name, Ganos."

"Ganos?" Nimue said, testing the feel of the name on her tongue. "That's a pretty name."

Morgan blushed.

~Flashback Ends~

Returning to the present, Nimue quickly absorbed all the information Ganos had reported to her while she had been lost in her memories. It seemed all was well. Though she expected nothing less with the capable Morgan in charge.

"We're still up for tonight?" Nimue asked the other woman suddenly, as she finally finished her report.

The blonde allowed a tinge of a blush to spread across her face before nodding.

"Great! Then it's a date." Nimue said, nowhere near as inhibited in her excitement. Her crew were loyal to the fault and would not hold her behavior so uncharacteristic as it was for a Goa'uld against her.

Blushing even more prominently now, something which had Nimue smirking in victory at having been the one to cause such a reaction, Ganos just nodded.

"Till then, ciao." Nimue said, cutting the connection so as to get the last word in.

It might have been a childish thing to do and unbecoming of someone of her station but Nimue didn't care. Everyone had to take time to act out once in awhile, or they would go crazy. If nothing else, the understanding smirks on her bridge crew that had been privy to her antics indicated that they at least agreed.

* * *

That night, as was their custom Nimue and Ganos met up in the Leaky Cauldron dreamscape that the former had first visited back on the day she become a Goa'uld. Or as the place was properly called by its inhabitants, the Ascended Plane.

"Honestly, Nimue," Ganos, now in her true human form as Morgan, chided as they walked into the pub arm in arm. "Did you have to shape this area into a dingy pub? You do realize that you've left enough of an impression on it that's it become permanent?"

"All the better," Nimue replied unrepentantly. "I find it comfortable."

"You might, but not all of us do." Ganos complained as they weaved through the crowds and took a seat at one of the booths at the back of the pub that emptied as they arrived. "The worst thing about it is that you're setting a bad example! Did you know not only has this pub become a favorite hangout for the Others but others have imitated it."

"Really?" Nimue asked, honestly surprised. She didn't know _anyone_, much less other Ascended, would came to like the Leaky Cauldron.

"Look around you," Ganos said gesturing to the large crowd that occupied the pub. "And this isn't the worst version of it. That honor goes to Oma's diner!"

Nimue just nodded, barely following what her date was saying. How the Ascended even knew what a diner was when the concept hadn't even been invented yet baffled her, but she chalked it up to some of her memories seeping into the collective pool of knowledge that the Ascended shared again. It wouldn't be the first time.

"I guess even Ascended like the chance to chat over good food and drink?" Nimue concluded with a shrug, as mugs of butterbeer materialized on their table at a thought.

"I suppose," a disgruntled Ganos agreed as she picked up her drink and proceeded to gulp down half her glass.

"Uh, Ganos, you sure you're okay? You don't usually drink that quickly."

"I'm just frustrated," Ganos admitted as she put down her glass mug. "It's been stressful keeping up appearances lately. And you don't help!"

The last sentence was said with an accusatory glare at Nimue.

"Sorry," the Goa'uld said, putting her hands up defensively. "I'll keep the flirting down."

"You better," Ganos said, even as she crumpled into Nimue's side. "But I'm glad that at least we get the chance to spend time here in the Ascended Plane without any of that."

"I suppose I should thank Merlin that I'm somehow an Ascended Being too, huh?" Nimue joked.

As if summoned by her joke, a balding old man, walked over.

"Hey there, my warden," the elderly gentleman said with a wave at Ganos who stiffened. "Someone call my name?"

Nimue had tensed as her date had, but was mostly just confused.

"Don't call me that," Ganos shot back at the man alongside a withering look. "Nimue, this is a friend of mine, Moros. He also sometimes goes by the name Merlin."

"If he's Merlin, then who're you?" Nimue played along. Surely, Ganos wasn't serious.

The other Ascended woman didn't reply, instead choosing to try and glare Moros into silence. It proved futile though as the old man just smirked and answered the question for her, "Your girlfriend sometimes goes by Morgan Le Fay."

Nimue laughed.

"I seem to have somehow found myself sitting among legends." The former witch said with an amused smirk. "I'm honored."

Oddly enough, this caused Moros to flinch.

"If we're such legends then we would've have dealt with the Goa'uld the moment we returned to the Milky Way."

Ganos glared at him for that, but Nimue waved it off.

"It's okay Ganos," the Goa'uld reassured her girlfriend. "If it meant freedom for all the people the Empire has enslaved then perhaps my death would be a small price."

Smiling gamely, she added, "Though I won't die without putting up a fight first."

"That won't be necessary." Ganos told Nimue as she looked at her seriously. "Our leaders have decreed that the Ascended will take no action with regard to the mortal plane. You need not fear facing the wrath of the Others."

"That decree hasn't stopped me or the lass over here," Moros pointed out.

"You're just a reckless old man that'll get himself in trouble with the Others soon enough and Nimue is a special case." Ganos shot back.

"In more ways than one, I hope." Nimue says with a salacious batting of her eyes.

Ganos blushed at the tease, but before she could act on it Moros cut in.

"Before you two lovebirds go into your own little world, mind if I get answers to some questions I really came over to ask?"

Ganos and Nimue both sighed at being interrupted but nevertheless nodded. It was their own fault for forgetting they still had company.

"So I've been hanging around Earth a lot lately and I've been hearing a lot about Ra." Moros began. "And I want to know what you, Nimue, think about how he's leveraging his control of Earth and its human population to grow his influence in the Goa'uld Empire."

Nimue considered the question for a moment before replying, "He's probably building up for a bid for the crown of Supreme System Lord, it's why he's going as far as ceding control of portions of the planet to other System Lords. He's building alliances."

"I see," the man hummed thoughtfully. "Would he be a less brutal Supreme System Lord than Apep?"

"Ra is less prone to genocidal rages, but in the end he's just another petty Goa'uld warlord with delusions of godhood. The Empire under him will just be more of the same."

"Should we take action to stop him then?"

"Moros, don't do anything stupid." Ganos warned, earning herself nothing but a smirk in reply.

"What about Anubis then?" Moros continued his questioning.

At the mention of the crafty jackal loving System Lord, Nimue grew pensive.

"He worries me," the Goa'uld admitted. "The way he's hoarding technology, often seized or stolen from other Goa'uld, and the way he's making alliances makes me think he's gearing up for something."

"More so than Ra?"

Nimue nodded.

"Their end goals are likely the same but frankly Anubis worries me more because his fascination with technology suggests more foresight than is typical for a Goa'uld." Nimue added. "I fear what direction an Empire led by him would go. Especially considering some of the unsavory technologies he's said to be experimenting with."

"I agree. He treats his slaves as cattle, more so than even other Goa'uld." Moros said with a frown. "He's used outright breeding programs to more quickly expand their populations."

"That's enough talk about those distasteful people." Ganos cut in firmly while glaring at Moros for bringing them up.

"It's not that bad. I don't get the chance to freely share my thoughts on the System Lords with other people." Nimue said placatingly.

"That may be the case, but I think your girlfriend might be upset if we continue. So how's about this for a change of topic. How would you go about selecting a good ruler?"

"There's no real way to do that. Good rulers just prove themselves over time." Nimue replied with a shrug.

"Like you, darling?" Ganos chimed in, earning herself a pretty blush.

Ignoring the flirting, Moros pressed on.

"How would you try then?"

Nimue hummed in thought. _How indeed? _

As she pondered the question, her mind flashed back to the obstacles protecting the Philosopher's Stone in her First Year at Hogwarts and how it revealed so much about the character of both herself and her friends.

Inspired, she replied. "I guess a series of tests of character might work."

Moros stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"You might include something at the end that the winner could take away to serve as a symbol of success and sovereign authority." Ganos added her two cents.

_Since we all seem to have Arthurian names, why not go all the way? _Nimue thought before playfully adding, "Why not make the symbol be a fancy sword called Excalibur?"

"Oh!" The old man said clapping in appreciation of the suggestion. "I like that idea!"

"Thanks."

"I'll be sure to credit you for it if I ever use it," Moros told her with a grin.

_Like that'll ever happen. _Nimue mused.

"Sure, go ahead." The Goa'uld said dismissively.

"Well, that's all I wanted to ask." Moros said as he stood. "I'll be making a move now. Enjoy yourselves, ladies."

"Good night, Moros." Ganos said, a touch coldly clearly still miffed that he'd intruded on their date.

Nimue was feeling more gracious and offered him a wave along with a cheerful "Goodbye."

The old man waved back as he disappeared into the crowded pub.

"Now that he's gone," Ganos said as she suddenly pushed Nimue back into the booth's cushions and straddled her hips. "We should get back to our date."

"As my lady commands," Nimue replied as she leaned up to kiss her girlfriend.

* * *

A week later found Nimue and Ganos in the formal audience chamber on the _Hedwig_ as they prepared to set off on a tour of the Minor Lord's domain. Lounging on her cushioned throne, Nimue was absently scrolling through a Goa'uld tablet reviewing the itinerary of her tour as Ganos stood to her side and gave her a report.

"At current speeds we'll reach Hogsmeade in a couple months, my lady." Nimue nodded to her lo'taur's verbal report as she distractedly confirmed that it correlated with the details written on the tablet. "From there we'll head to your other worlds in succession. The tour is scheduled to be completed in about three years, which will give us another two years to make the round trip to the Hasara space station for your formal investiture as a System Lord."

"The trip to Hasara is a waste of time," Nimue spat. "It's purely an attempt by Apep to show the extent of his power. Its lack of a Stargate and its location in an isolated part of the Empire means that the System Lords are forced make the long trip there whenever he calls for a convocation of the Council."

"I must agree." Ganos said with a nod. "We should be thankful that the hyperdrive upgrades you had our fleet refitted with are working so well. Just traveling to and from the dozen worlds of our domain using conventional hyperdrives would have taken three times longer without them."

"It's not that impressive," Nimue deflected, still uneasy with praise at least when given by her loved ones.

"I beg to differ," Ganos insisted. "You've worked marvels with the resources at hand, it's why you've managed to become one of the greatest Underlords of the Empire and soon to be recognized as one of the greatest Goa'uld through your ascension to the rank of System Lord."

"That's entirely due to your administrative skill, Ganos." Nimue said, scoffing at her own achievements.

"You give yourself too little credit." The supposed human pressed. "After all, didn't you discover how to store magical energy and spells in programming crystals, and even worked out how to use that to enhance our technology?"

"I only discovered magicite by accident, Ganos. You know that."

The older woman was making the discovery out to be so much more than it really had been. All it had involved was Nimue feeling lazy while tinkering one day and attempting to use her magic to summon a Goa'uld control crystal only to have it absorb the spell.

"But it's allowed us to achieve impressive feats like mircojumping hasn't it? Besides didn't you leverage their utility to make the other Goa'uld overlook all the things we do on our worlds in exchange for exporting it to them?"

Nimue just shrugged.

_What's up with her today? Why's she suddenly singing my praises like this? _Nimue pondered, eying her lover curiously but found no clues towards her intentions.

"Isn't that wilful disregard on their part why our worlds have managed to become so heavily industrialized and have the high standards of living that they do? Something that your subjects are aware and eternally grateful for? Isn't that right, Ma'toc?"

The Jaffa commander that had until now silently stood at attention to the side, stepped forward and readily declared, "It is as you say, Lady Shae."

Uncomfortable with the praise, Nimue decided it was time to change the subject.

"Are my children ready to receive me?"

It had taken almost two centuries, but Nimue had eventually amassed enough power that she felt safe revealing herself to be a Goa'uld Queen. At which point, she immediately dismissed the few minor Goa'uld in her service and replaced them with her own children. One of those she removed had been Ancasta and she'd reveled in getting rid of Oisin's little spy in her ranks and the woman who had for better or ill created what she was today. That this effectively freed her from her last ties from the House of Eire was just icing on the cake. The coalition was on its last legs, having been beset by pressures within and without, and she was glad to be rid of a connection that was increasingly becoming a burden. Though she was surprised how her desertion had sent it spiraling into civil war and a fiery demise.

Not all of the things that came with her revelation was good though. Almost as soon as she had made her declaration, offers for breeding contracts had come flooding in, but she had rejected all of them. Considering the isolated position of her domain on the Empire's frontier and her growing strength, few of her suitors were ready to challenge her decision. Especially not after she soundly defeated Susanoo's foolhardy and undermanned attempt to do so.

"They are, my lady," Ganos informed her with an look that told her she saw through her deflection and would press the earlier line of discussion again at a later date. "They also know to keep the pomp as low key as possible."

"Good," Nimue said with a pleased smile. For all that she'd lived centuries while surrounded by the pomp and pageantry typical of the Goa'uld, she still preferred to keep things as simple as possible.

"Is there anything else?"

"Nothing official, my lady." Ganos said with an uncharacteristic nervousness. "Though I humbly ask if you might grant me a private audience with your august self later."

Nimue looked at her lover closely, reading all the subtle cues that she was giving out. The way she was cocking her hips to the right slightly, the half-lidded eyes and the slightly husky tone of voice, all suggested that she wanted a intimate rendezvous. Which was surprising. They had been in a relationship for centuries, and had hardly been celibate throughout but this was the first time that Ganos had sought such outside of the Ascended Plane.

"Of course, Ganos." Nimue eagerly agreed. "I'll see you in my chambers tonight."

"I thank you, my lady." Ganos said with a grateful bow and a smoldering gaze.

Nimue suddenly couldn't wait for nighttime to come. She wanted to see what Ganos had in mind that would prompt such uncharacteristic behavior on her part. The former witch was certain that whatever it was, she would enjoy it immensely.

* * *

Nimue was more correct in her assumption then she'd imagined possible.

At least that was her thought as she lay in the king sized four poster bed of her bedchambers that night, a naked and satisfied Ganos cuddled into her side.

"That was wonderful, my love." Nimue commented as she ran her right hand idly down her lover's back. "I especially liked it when you got kinky."

"Really?" Ganos asked with a brilliant blush. "You're really alright with it."

"I am," Nimue said, smiling reassuringly at the other woman. "While I never want a man inside me like that ever again, or anyone else for that matter, if it's _you _then it's fine. Though I'd like to know what brought this on."

"I just wanted to try something new." Ganos said, pressing her head down to Nimue's bosom and avoiding looking into her green eyes.

"Growing a member to plow my fields was definitely something new alright," Nimue said with a giggle.

"Nimue!" Ganos chided with a brilliant blush.

"Call me Vivian."

"What?"

"It's the personal name I chose. You know the one I told you I wanted to take on for my friends and family to use?"

Ganos nodded, before lovingly saying her new name for the first time. "Vivian~."

Her voice caressed every syllable as if it was one of the most precious things to her, like the name was something she would cherish for eternity.

"It's beautiful." She adds at last. "Perfect for the most beautiful being in the universe."

Vivian blushed brilliantly and it was her turn to cuddle into her lover's side to hide her face.

* * *

Hours later, Ganos sat up in the bed and looked down at a contentedly sleeping Vivian.

Crying, the Ascended woman leaned down to press a kiss to her lover's sleeping lips.

"Sorry," she whispered, even as the word tore at her soul.

In spite of her agony however she had her duty and so she transformed into her true form. In a burst of blinding light, her human body was transfigured into a orb of bright white light.

For a second, she considered lingering to get one last look at her beloved but knew that if she did any resolve she had might just crumble into dust. So instead, with her tears in the form of glittering motes of light trailing in her wake she shot of the room and into the Ascended Plane.

* * *

Vivian was awoken when her senses screamed that there was a powerful burst of magical energy from right next to her. Jumping out of her bed, she scanned her surroundings for its source. However, as she did so an even more pressing matter presented itself.

_Where's Ganos!?_

"Ganos?" Vivian shouted, calling out to her beloved. "Where are you?"

Getting no response, Vivian began searching every nook and cranny but found no trace of her lover. Even the clothes that she discarded when they'd begun their lovemaking had disappeared,

_No, it can't be. She couldn't have… _Vivian thought to herself in a panic. _Maybe she just left to check on something on the ship. Yes, that must be it._

Frantically fumbling she rushed to nearest computer and hailed Zintar.

"You called, My Lady," her First Prime answered immediately, though for some reason he was averting his eyes.

If Vivian had not been so unsettled then she would have noticed that in her haste to find her lover she hadn't bothered to get dressed. Not that she would have cared even if she had noticed, not when Ganos was missing.

"Zintar, locate Ganos at once!"

"Ganos? My lady, but who might that be?"

"Shae! My Lo'taur!" Vivian shouted desperately.

"My lady, did you gain a new Lo'taur since Lady Merida's passing? I was not aware." Zintar asked, sounding lost.

Vivian opened her mouth to chastise him for joking with her but restrained herself as she recognizes the honest confusion in his voice.

_He doesn't know what I'm talking about. He honestly doesn't know._

"No, I have not." Nimue said as took a deep breath and regained her cool. "Forget what I said just now."

"As you command, my lady." Her First Prime said sounding even more confused and a touch worried.

She should have said something to assuage his concerns but she couldn't bring herself to care about that at the moment so she just cut the comm link.

_If Ganos is not on the Hedwig then where could she have gone? _Nimue pondered.

She paced the length and breadth of her room for a moment, thinking on the question when she was hit with a possible solution.

"If she's not there, then at the very least I'll be able to find clues about her whereabouts there." Nimue concluded as she called on her magic and tasked it to do something she'd never done before: access the Ascended Plane while awake.

The process proved harder than she imagined. She'd been unconsciously accessing it in her dreams for centuries before and had done so effortlessly, but this was like trying to batter down the impregnable walls of Troy. She was undaunted however and called on ever more of her magic to the task. She would not be denied.

Slowly her chambers grew first humid then filled with the smell of ozone as she pooled more and more of her power, until with a final crash of thunder and a flash of lightning Nimue disappeared from the material plane.

* * *

She rematerialized in the Leaky Cauldron like she always had when she'd previously entered the Ascended Plane. Dressed in a dress of raw lightning, she turned demanding eyes on the Ascended who filled every seat in the pub.

"**Where is Ganos?"** Nimue demanded in the booming voice of the Goa'uld. "**Where is she!?"**

She was met with stiff silence as the gathered Ascended looked at her, some with awe, others with sympathy, but most with simple dispassion.

Perhaps it was the latter which set her off, or just her utter desperation but the lack of a reply made her furious and she fired a a bolt of lightning across the pub as a warning shot.

"**I won't miss the next time." **She hissed. "**Tell me what I want to know or the next bolt will hit someone."**

Some of the Ascended blinked out but four of the pub's patrons stood up to face her. Three of them were well built men, that could have passed for bouncers. In contrast, the last and apparent leader was a slender woman with beautiful strawberry blonde hair.

"Stop this foolishness at once, Nimue." The woman demanded. "Before you do something we'll all regret."

"**The only ones who will regret anything at the end of today will be you lot." **Nimue declared ominously as she conjured a tidal wave that swept out from all around her.

The other Ascended were caught completely by surprise by the sudden attack and most were slammed into the walls of the pub by the water. Some managed to blink away, but most of the pub's patrons were now trapped and at Nimue's mercy.

"**Ready to answer my questions now?" **

"Combine our powers!" The strawberry blonde shouted. "She's too powerful for any of us alone. Pool our powers and push back her water."

"**Like I'll let you!" **Nimue shouted derisively before flooding the room with lightning.

Most of the Ascended screamed and passed out, unable to withstand the power she'd unleashed but a dozen or so began to glow with a brilliant white light that began to push back her restraining water.

Nimue frowned and constructed lances of pure power and threw them at the remaining Ascended. Too focused on fighting against her water, six of them were knocked out as her lances exploded upon contact with their auras.

The remaining six however just grew tentacles from their glowing masses and swatted the lances aside, even as dozens of the same tentacles lashed out in a bid to restrain Nimue.

The Goa'uld conjured a pair of scimitars made of lightning and danced through the questing tentacles cutting off any that got too close. In this way, she fended them off in a graceful sword dance that made full use of the effort she'd put into training with Zintar.

She ducked and weaved around the seemingly endless tendrils her opponents threw her way. For every one she cut, two more shot out of their glowing masses to restrain her. She held out for ten minutes before the sheer mass of tentacles her opponents had created to ensnare her proved too much.

All it took was one misstep as she tripped over an overturned bar stool for her right leg to get caught. She moved to cut it free but found her swing cut short as a dozen tendrils restrained it mid motion. It went downhill from there as the other Ascended proceeded to bind her remaining limbs as well despite her struggles. Soon she found tentacles wrapped all around her body and was brought to her knees by the remaining Ascended.

Despite this, she was not cowed and prepared another counterattack but was interrupted when the object of her desires teleported into the pub.

"Stop! All of you stop!" Ganos shouted frantically as she interposed herself between Vivian and her opponents.

"Ganos!" Vivian greeted her lover warmly despite being bound, though that proved a non-factor as she transformed herself into living lightning and slipped through her bonds to embrace her. Nimue's opponents gasped at this, but Vivian paid them no mind.

Ganos returned the hug and even pulled Vivian into a kiss that left the former witch breathless.

Though the conflicted look on her lover's face soon brought her back to her senses.

"Ganos, what's going on?"

"Nimue," she said eying the other Ascended and shooting her lover an apologetic look. "I can explain but you need to promise me not to do anything rash."

Vivian didn't think she'd done any such thing so far but humored the love of her life.

"I promise."

Ganos breathed a sigh of relief and began to explain.

"My superiors have have decreed that my mission to observe you is over. My reports have given them what they feel is an adequate picture of your capabilities in various capacities. As such, they have ordered me to return to my primary mission with immediate effect."

"And what is this primary mission?" Nimue asked, her golden eyes narrowed.

"I can't tell you." Ganos said shaking her head sadly. "But please don't think too badly of the Others, they have been very kind to us already. My mission to observe and find out what you were has been complete for centuries, but they knew we had fallen in love and thus in an act of mercy gave us time to be together. Even now they aren't completely heartless and will allow us to meet once a year."

"Bullshit! You call only seeing you once a year merciful?"

"It's better than nothing," Ganos insisted.

"Why can't someone else take up your mission and you stay with me?" Vivian countered, desperately. "Surely it doesn't have to be you that carries it out."

"I am afraid that Ganos _is _the only one able to carry it out." A blonde woman with long straight hair that Nimue recognizes as Ganos' friend Oma said, stepping forward.

In the time that Vivian and Ganos talked, the pub had been filled once more with Ascended. Most were caring for those that Nimue had knocked out but quite a few were radiating power and looking at her warily, clearly there with the intention to intervene should the need arise.

"The Others only allow certain members of our kind to interact with the mortal plane," Oma said, continuing her explanation. "And, for better or worse, Ganos is one of those few. The others with this privilege all have their own vital missions, so only Ganos can take up the task assigned to her."

For a brief moment, Nimue entertained the idea of continuing her defiance. Of fighting all the Ascended and forcing them to allow Ganos to stay with with her. But almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it. She couldn't fight all of the Others and have any realistic hope of victory. More importantly that was something that she was sure Ganos wouldn't want her to do.

"Then can I at least know what it would take for Ganos to be free of her duties?" Nimue asked unhappily.

An Asian woman with shoulder length hair that Nimue recalled Ganos introducing as one of her superiors once stepped forward.

"That will only happen when Ganos' mission is complete," the Asian woman said coldly.

"And none of you will tell me what it is, right?" Nimue sneered, already knowing the answer.

"They cannot, my love." Ganos tells her apologetically.

Nimue wanted to rage at that too, but she knew she was in checkmate and so relented. For now. One day however… One day she would free her love from her burden and be with her once more.

* * *

Four years later, Nimue stood at in a darkened entryway on the Hasara Space Station awaiting the signal to begin the ceremony for her investiture as a System Lord.

She had not been waiting long before a nervous slave gestured to her to proceed. Receiving the signal she strode confidently out of the entryway and into the amphitheater like audience chamber that was the heart of the colossal space station. Without any hint of unease of any sort, she walked to the center of the room and stood before the various System Lords, including notables like Nut, Ra, Apophis, Anubis and Yu. Seated above them however was the true power here, he intimidating looking reptilian humanoid that was the Unas host to the Supreme System Lord of the Goa'uld Empire, Apep.

She noted the empty throne on the lower tier reserved for the System Lords.

Apep looked at her searchingly for a long moment before seemingly finding whatever he was looking for and stood. He proceeded to give a speech addressing it to the gathered Goa'uld, which also included the hundreds of Underlords and other servants that the System Lords had brought as part of their retinue in addition to Apep's own already large court.

Nimue didn't bother paying attention to him, choosing to tune him out. Using her multitasking skills to ensure that she picked out anything in his speech that might prove relevant later, even if she doubted there was much if anything that would fit the bill.

She continued to run on automatic even as he began asking her to take the oaths he required of his System Lords.

Instead she's preoccupied herself by going through once more the massive amount of information Oma had secretly slipped into her mind when she'd been kicked out of the Ascended Plane after her disastrous visit to find Ganos.

_The Ori. The true enemy. _Nimue mused as she eyed the System Lords dressed in all their finery and cloaked in their presumed superiority. How many, if any, would survive when the true war began.

_None, I imagine. For what are a bunch of megalomaniacal parasites playing god in the face of a a group of hostile Ascended? One hellbent on the subjugation of our galaxy and the destruction of all our Ascended, Ganos included?_

The Goa'uld would fight of course, their arrogance would allow nothing less but they would stand no chance.

_They'll need to go. _Nimue concluded. _They'll just be in the way._

That was merely the truth. In the whole galaxy, only the Others could stand against the Ori but their their pacifist ideology of non-intervention meant they were unwilling to prepare for the inevitable war.

Not all of them agreed to wait like sitting ducks, of course. Moros, for example, had fled to the material plane where the reach of the Others was limited to develop ways to fight against the Ori. They had however tasked Ganos to watch him to ensure he did not break any of the Others' rules while he did so. As Moros would not stop until the Ori were defeated and this would also eliminate a threat to the galaxy…

_If I want a future with Ganos, then I must defeat the Ori._

In order to do that, she would need to build an empire powerful to enough to do so.

Walking up to take her seat among the System Lords, Nimue was surrounded by the polite cheer of the gathered Goa'uld. Even as she took her seat at last and the cheering reached a crescendo, the new System Lord could barely resist the urge to scowl in disgust at the sycophantic fools.

_How I wish I could be back on the Hedwig. _The Ascended Being thought as the image of the twin little girls that awaited her on her flagship entered her mind's eye.

At the thought of her daughters, Nimue renewed a vow to herself that she'd first made when she'd learned she was pregnant with Ganos' children.

_Even if it takes a million years, I'll reunite my family_

* * *

**And done!**

**Alright as usual, let's cover the points I want to discuss in this AN systematically:**

**Firstly, the rushed nature of the romance. This is a product of fluff not being my thing and my desire to speed things along as quickly as possible. As you might have gathered through my extensive use of timeskips, I want to avoid getting bogged down in say the early stages of colonial development or in this case the various stages of romance. The important takeaway here is that Nimue/Vivian and Ganos are in love. Hence, why I skipped most of the parts where they actually fall in love.**

**Secondly, Ganos and Moros being OOC. Yes, I'll admit they are. However, in my defense I would argue we've never actually seen all that much of them. And we definitely have not seen them in as relaxed a setting as they sometimes are here. So I feel that my changes to their characterization is still within the realm of plausibility.**

**Third, the use of Nimue v. Vivian. This is me trying to be subtle. Essentially when I refer to Nimue/Vivian as Nimue she's in her Goa'uld persona. When she's referred to as Vivian then she's in her family mode as it were. You'll notice that sometimes the change can be very abrupt. This is wholly deliberate and designed so that the two personas are not different personalities but just masks which sometimes can overlap.**

**Fourth, a reviewer (****frankieu) on the last chapter asked why Ganos arranged the attack on Hogwarts. The answer is between the lines here. It was part of her observation mission. Namely, Ganos wanted to see Nimue would respond to such a dangerous situation. Would she use her powers? If so, then she could observe them. Or would she fight conventionally, which is of course what she did? If so, it would be a chance to see how good a military leader is Nimue? Hope this clears things up for anyone else who might be pondering the same question.**

**Fifth, a couple reviewers suggested Nimue create blank slate human clones for her Goa'uld children to inhabit. Since this is an issue that came up more than once, I'll address it here as well. She won't do that because doing so would be abhorrent to her. It would like slavery. It would be creating life for no other reason than to give her children a more convenient body. E****ven if they are just mindless boxes whatever form they take (though considering humans are considered the ideal Goa'uld host, it's doubtful she'll accept non-humans as hosts for her children), Nimue would still see them as a type of life. Keep in mind that she's been treated as worthless before, she can thus empathize with anyone in that situation as 'boxes' would be. And no process is perfect, what if one of these mindless boxes turns out to not be as mindless as she expected? Even one such incident would be unacceptable to her. Much better to simply allow her children the chance to blend with individuals selected by merit and loyalty. Less resource intensive too, as she'd want to single out such outstanding individuals for commendation anyways.  
**

**Sixth, I've decided to delete any guest reviews without any valid criticisms. If you aren't willing to at least explain your opinions beyond that ******"this isn't a well done story"** then I don't see your review as valid. At least the positive reviews of this type reinforces that I'm doing something right and the reviews of this type by FFN members allows me to seek clarification on their criticism via PM. If I cannot get anything worthwhile from a review, I see no reason to keep it.  
**

**Seventh, this chapter shows even more of the changes to the Stargate timeline as presented in **_**Stargate SG-1: Living Gods: Stargate System Lords**_**. Some of these changes I've already outlined, so I'll just address the one major change here, namely the hierarchy of the Goa'uld Empire before the rise of Ra. As far as I can tell, it was Ra who created the office of Supreme System Lord, however as you can see here it's a title that predates his ascension to that rank. Also, though this won't be relevant for some time I'll be changing Sokar's history too so that instead of him having once ruled the Empire it'll be him being close to usurping Ra with a coalition of allies, but is eventually defeated by Ra.**

**Lastly, as you can see I've changed my update schedule. Instead of a post per week I'll be posting every 2-3 posts a week instead. **

**That's it for this post. Till next time, adieu.**


	7. Growing Years: Foundations for Empire

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter Seven: The Growing Years: Foundations for Empire**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

Lounging back on the cushions of her command throne of her new flagship, _The Le Fay_, Nimue watched through the viewscreen as her subjects on the world, Diagon, that the Ha'tak was orbiting put the finishing touches on a ten stories tall circular tower. Three crystal obelisks each another three stories tall were mounted at the top of the structure, these crystals tilted inward slightly such that their points almost but not quite touched each other.

This was a Shroud Tower, a device that she'd developed that would cast a spell that made it so only those keyed into the location of the world it was built on would be able to pinpoint its location. With it online, the only way to locate a world under its effect was to literally stumble on it and even then unless one continually focused on it, the world's location would easily slip from a viewer's perception. It was an application of an effect she had discovered while practicing her magic and had since used to hide a number of her worlds.

As magical lightning began arcing between the obelisks, signaling that the Tower had come online, Nimue smiled in satisfaction.

With the matter at hand resolved, it was time to turn to other matters and the System Lord turned to _The Le Fay_'s shiplord, Francis Drake.

He was one of her Goa'uld children who had blended with a tanned, muscular Caucasian male, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a flamboyant replica of a Regency era British Naval Captain's uniform he had reproduced from the faint recollections he'd inherited from her genetic memory of an antique Harry had once seen displayed during a museum tour he had attended during a school trip back in Primary School. His flamboyant attire being an attempt she was sure to imitate the famous seafarer that Harry had been enamored with for a summer or two when he was a child.

"Drake, signal our escorts to break orbit and plot a course for Londinium." Nimue ordered her son, even as she toggled the Pel'tak's central viewscreen from the scene of celebration of a job well done on the planet below to the starfield outside the ship.

"As you command, Your Majesty." Drake replied while snapping a salute, before turning to bark orders at the all female crew.

The atypical composition of her ship's crew, was standard for her fleets. In a bid to more effectively utilize the people under her command, Nimue had done what few, if any, other Goa'uld had done and conscripted her female Jaffa into her service. Whereas their generally more physically able male counterparts tended to serve as soldiers in her armies, the women generally served as the crews for her ships.

This was one of the ways she's managed to keep an edge over the other Goa'uld despite having a relatively smaller population. That being a product of one of the ways her rivals worked to keep her in check, by refusing to sell her the slaves she needed to fill out her ranks. Some had even gone to the extent of massacring their own people on worlds she was about to claim in a bid to deny her the resource.

Recollecting the atrocities that she'd seen over the years brought a grimace to her face, but she quickly dispelled it by gazing out the main viewscreen as it displayed the real time view of the space outside her ship or more precisely how the dozen Al'keshs of her escort formed up around _The Le Fay_ as they begun to pull away from Diagon.

In the distance, she spotted two Ha'taks full of colonists ready to settle the new world and the scores of Tel'taks full of the supplies they'll need to do so still holding orbit. In defensive positions around them were a squadron of nine of the new Shel'tak destroyers she'd designed.

These new ships had a vaguely pyramid shaped aft section that resembled a Tel'tak that was connected to a long rectangular central section which ended in a square pyramid shaped prow. It was an inelegant design that looked like a deformed obelisk and was not aesthetically pleasing at all, not that such was a concern for a warship.

And that was exactly what the Shel'tak was. Unlike the Ha'tak motherships and the Al'kesh scout bombers, who were designed to fill roles in addition to combat. These new destroyers were built from the ground up for war.

At 300 metres long, it was a little less than half the length of a Ha'tak and was a third its mass. It however sported 30 staff cannons or roughly half the firepower of the larger Goa'uld capital ship in a series of turrets that ran along the dorsal and ventral hull. In order to power this weapons complement however, the maximum strength of its shields was only 40% of a Ha'tak's. Despite this, it possessed the same sub-light engines which when coupled with its lower mass made it far more maneuverable. This made it a formidable opponent despite its size.

Most importantly, it cost only a quarter the cost of a Ha'tak to build. Though due to their lack of relative self-sufficiency in comparison to a Ha'tak, they had a relatively high upkeep which translated into a drain on her resources. In spite of this drawback, Nimue considered them quite the worthwhile investment and had built a significant number of the vessels.

Not that most of the other Goa'uld agreed. While most had built their own small fleets of the new ship, either imitating her design or purchasing it from her directly, they had seen limited use largely due to their high upkeep but also because their lack of significant cargo bays made them impractical for transporting the large Jaffa ground armies through which the System Lords preferred to fight their battles.

_Which is to my advantage. _Nimue noted, as she observed her fleets and their disciplined maneuvers with pride. _If they fail to see the advantages of the Shel'tak then that just means that I'll be able exploit them to fuller effect myself._

As _The Le Fay_ entered hyperspace, Nimue stood causing the guards and crewmen at non-essential stations to dutifully snap to attention in response.

Waving at them to return to their posts, Nimue walked towards the rings she had installed in a secure room a moderate distance from the Pel'tak. Now that they were safely underway, her short break was over. It was time for her to once more get down to the hard task of ruling once more and go through the reams of paperwork that had been generated by the bureaucracy she'd created to administer her domain had prepared for her review every day.

To be honest, she was glad she would be in hyperspace for the next week or two. It meant once she cleared her current stack of papers, she'd be free from the scourge for a time though the price of this would be the backlog she'd need to slog through when she finally returned to real space.

* * *

As _The Le Fay_ prepared to drop out of hyperspace, Nimue hurried onto the Pel'tak. She usually made it a point to be there whenever the ship she was on entered or exited hyperspace wherever possible but had gotten carried away while training with her magic and ended up finishing later than she'd originally planned. Hurriedly taking her seat on the command throne, the former witch was just in time to see the blue tunnel through hyperspace transition into the view of massive shipyards orbiting her throne world of Londinium.

_The sight never fails to make me proud. _The woman responsible for the vista mused even as a flotilla of three Ha'taks, nine Shel'taks and twelve Al'kesh that made up a portion of the garrison fleet moved to challenge her flagship as it cruised towards orbit.

_And I have every right to be proud. _The System Lord thought as the intercepting flotilla authenticated her presence and moved aside to allow _The Le Fay_ to pass. _This is the largest shipyard in the Empire and I built it from scratch and entirely without the other System Lords being aware of its existence beyond suspicions._

"Drake," Nimue asked after a moment of admiring the sprawling orbiting drydocks and platforms that constituted the Londinium Shipyards and addressing her Ship Lord. "Is the fleet I ordered ready for the exercise?"

"I've just got off the comms with them," her son reported. "Everything is set up as planned, Your Majesty. They await your permission to begin."

"Give them the go ahead and patch us through to the observation drones."

Drake nodded and gestured to his XO, who manipulated the controls of her station and caused the primary viewscreen's display to changed from the space outside to a lone Ha'tak cruising through the void some distance beyond Londinium.

It flew unmolested for a few moments before out of nowhere, a trio of Shel'taks executed microjumps, as evidenced by the excessively bright exits of their hyperspace tunnels, and attacked the Ha'tak.

The mothership's crew exhibited great skill and despite the surprise of the attack opened fire on its attackers immediately with the full spread of its Staff Cannons. However, the Shel'tak's crews were just as, if not, more skilled and used the superior mobility of their ships to fly circles around the larger ship evading the bulk of its fire even as they overwhelmed it with their combined firepower. Within moments, the larger ship's shields failed and it became dead in space.

"Well done," Nimue commented, genuinely pleased. "It seems my Ship Lords are getting a hang of the use of wolf pack tactics."

"Indeed, Your Majesty. This will prove incredibly useful in our wars with the other System Lords."

Nimue hummed skeptically.

"They are untested in a real war though." Nimue said, voicing her doubts.

"I assure you, Your Majesty, that the other Goa'uld won't see such tactics coming, I doubt they could even conceive of anything vaguely similar." Drake declared confidently. "All they know how to do is form up into firing lines and fire broadsides at each other."

Nimue just nodded noncommittally, thinking that her son was underestimating the Goa'uld.

_I just hope that it won't get him killed._

* * *

A couple hours later, Nimue was walking down a long hallway as she toured her primary research and development facility buried miles underground under one of Londinium's mountain ranges. Accompanying her and acting as her guide was her Secretary for Science, Baltet.

Another of her Goa'uld children, Baltet had chosen to blend with a short man of East Asian descent with untidy, wispy black hair. He was dressed in plain robes that he accented with his omnipresent white lab coat and a karakesh that she knew he'd modified into a multipurpose diagnostic and manufacturing tool as well as a portable computer. It was a truly revolutionary design, which if not for the prohibitive cost of manufacture she'd have put into mass production. Instead, she'd had to settle for limited distribution.

"And this, Your Majesty, is our first stop." Baltet announced as they walked up to a window overlooking a lab where a pyramid shaped device with many wires leading up to it had been set up facing a deployed shield bubble. The scientists and engineers in the room below looked up expectantly at Nimue and she gave them a nod.

One of them excitedly pressed a button on a console next to the pyramidal device that caused the apex of the pyramid to fire a beam of energy at the shield.

Another of the scientists rapidly began reading off the shield's rapidly depleting strength from a display at a workstation to the side.

"Impressive, no?" Baltet said as the beam drained the shield at a respectable rate.

Nimue just nodded, her eyes glued on the light show presented by the beam and the shield.

"This is all thanks to the addition of magicite capictators and dedicated in-built generators," Baltet continued excited, clearly thrilled to get a chance to show off his creation. "With their addition, the team is close to making the plasma beam emitters meet all the requirements that Your Majesty set."

Again the System Lord just nodded distractedly, more intent to watch as after a few minutes of being subjected to the plasma beam, the shield finally collapsed and the beam shot through to the thick sheet of trinium armor that had been set up precisely to absorb any spillover from this test. Although the armor sheet was only exposed to the beam's output for a few seconds before an orderly shut the emitter down, Nimue was pleased to note that a relatively deep hole had been drilled into it.

_I can already imagine how effective that would be against an enemy ship. _Nimue mused with satisfaction.

"You and your team have done will, Baltet." Nimue told her son. "This latest version of the plasma beam appears to be a significant improvement to their last prototype. I look forward to the day when we can install the weapon onto our ships."

"You honor us with your praise, Your Majesty." Her chief scientist said with a grateful bow, that his subordinates in the lab below promptly emulated.

Nimue just smiled at them before turning to walk off, her omnipresent guards shadowing her every move with Baltet quickly recovered his wits and following suit.

They walked a short distance over to a window overlooking another lab. This was occupied by a group of scientists deep in discussion as they consult a large holographic projection of the current model of hyperdrive employed by her ships.

"The hyperdrive enhancement workgroup," Baltet said, naming the group below. "They don't have a practical prototype yet but the latest proposed upgrades out of the team are looking incredibly promising. Based on their simulations, we think we'll be able to double the maximum speed of our drives while simultaneously extending their range between jumps by 50%."

"I'm impressed." Nimue admitted. "Tell them that. But also inform them that they'll need to work harder. The technological advantage we've enjoyed until now is closing fast. Thoth has already managed to replicate microjump capability without the use of magicite."

"They understand the need for urgency well," Baltet assured her. "They will not fail."

Nodding in satisfaction, Nimue moved on. She passes a number of labs where the teams appear to be working on various handheld weapons and devices, tinkering to see how they could be improved. She came to a stop again as they reached a lab where a team was studying a Sarcophagus.

The healing device developed by Telchak with its ability to even revive the newly dead was truly a marvel. However, her tests had shown that it had a side effect of subtly modifying the brain chemistry of its users. Her analysts had concluded that over time these effects would stack up and lead to potential major psychological problems.

As such, she had tasked her scientists to rectify this problem before authorizing the device's widespread use.

"I regret to inform you, Your Majesty, that the team has been having trouble figuring out what exactly is wrong with the device." Baltet said apologetically.

"I see." Nimue said, disappointed.

"However," Baltet said, with a proud smile. "They have devised an alternative approach to rectifying the Sarcophagus' deficiency. Instead, of fixing the preexisting flaw they have developed a number of spells that correct the biochemical changes it causes."

"I take it that they intend to load these spells into magicite projectors and install them into the Sarcophagus?"

"For the moment, yes." Baltet said with a nod. "They are however still working to see if the device can be modified on a more fundamental level to avoid its negative side effect."

Nimue nodded in approval as she moved to continue the tour.

_I hope all this research will be enough. _Nimue thought, as she worried about the future.

* * *

After touring her labs, Nimue had promptly returned to _The Le Fay_ and ordered that they set a course for Hogwarts. Once they were en route, she had retreated to her quarters and began getting ready.

It was time for her annual visit with Ganos and she wanted to be absolutely perfect for her lover. Thus Vivian had spent the better part of two hours preparing her hair, putting on makeup and slipping on a V-neck sleeveless, open back floor length dress in a deep emerald color. All in the hopes that it would wow her dearly missed lover.

Considering the small gasp that the other woman had made when she'd materialized on the Ascended Plane for dinner, she had achieved her goal quite handsomely.

That the dress had been relatively easy to slip out off as she stripped it off when they had descended back onto the material plane and into her bedroom onboard the ship to relieve some of the sexual tension that had built up over their year without the other, just made it all the more perfect.

Though nowhere near as perfect as the sex itself. Being apart for twelve months had let them both build up a healthy dose of pent up lust for each other, which they were more than ready to demonstrate.

After one such passionate round of lovemaking, Vivian rested comfortably in Ganos' arms as they enjoyed the afterglow.

"So how are our daughters?" Ganos asked, while she ran her hands through Vivian's long hair. "I see that they're not here this year."

"Umm," Vivian muttered her wordless agreement to the observation. "They decided they can catch up with you next year. Apparently, they want us to have as much time together as possible."

"I don't suppose they want us to conceive little sisters for them to spoil?"

"Maybe?" Vivian shrugged. She honestly didn't think that was the case. Their daughters were probably just too busy to want to meet up with her for their father's visit. Ganos having been restricted to only meeting herself meant that if the girls wanted to see her they would need to rendezvous with Vivian to do so. Considering how their responsibilities to her domain had sent them to far flung postings, they likely saw it as to much of a hassle to make the trip.

"Well, we can always give it a try." Ganos said meaningfully.

"Maybe later," Vivian deflected. "You were asking after the girls, so why don't I give you an update."

"Still feeling a little sore?"

"Shush," Vivian said, blushing brilliantly. "Do you want to hear about our daughters or not?"

"Go ahead," Ganos said after kissing the younger woman's forehead placatingly.

"Well, Rose is on the borders of my domain leading my fleets as First Fleet Lord, keeping it safe from the other Goa'uld."

"Is Eldina is continuing to treat her well?" Ganos cut in to ask.

"They get on famously, as they have ever since they blended." Vivian assured her. "In fact, they have become so close that it is their blended joint personality Eldarose which is the dominant one of the trio of late."

"That's a new development."

"Not really," Vivian replied with a sigh. "Apparently it's been the case for a while but that they didn't realize until recently. Apparently they had been so comfortable with it they didn't even notice."

"I'm not surprised," Ganos said with a chuckle. "The girls can be rather oblivious at times. Something they get from you."

Vivian just pouted but didn't deny it. She was well aware that she had a tendency to overlook things. It was why she surrounded herself with advisors with exceptional observational skills to make up for this shortcoming. It was also why she'd paired their daughters up with two of her Goa'uld children who had the same talent and which were supposed to help them do the same, though in hindsight it seemed that they had absorbed the obliviousness of their hosts instead.

"So Rose is following in Aster's footsteps?" Ganos asked, when she realized she wasn't getting a verbal response out of Vivian.

"Well, they are twins." Vivian said with a giggle. "Though I wouldn't say they are following the exact some paths. I mean, at least Aster was cognizant enough of the fact that Kalwart had become dominant and had the decency to tell me about it right away."

"Proximity probably helps," Ganos countered. "Aster's your Prime Minister, so that means she's around you a lot more than her sister."

"I suppose," Vivian agreed. "Though she quite conveniently is off settling a mining dispute on one of my frontier worlds just when it's time for you to visit."

"Looks like they might really be rooting for us to give them siblings then," Ganos said as she began tracing circles along Vivian's thighs.

The Goa'uld began breathing heavily at her lover's teasing.

"Ganos, let me rest a little longer." Vivian begged, as her lover's hands drifted ever closer to her womanhood.

"Take as long as you need," the Ascended Ancient said with an apologetic smile as she pulled her hand away.

Vivian smiled at her gratefully. They had gotten a little carried away in their last round of lovemaking and she hadn't fully recovered yet.

For a moment, a pleasant quiet descended upon them with Vivian just enjoying Ganos' presence and the latter doing the same.

It was broken however when the older woman suddenly sighed.

"Ganos?" Vivian asked worriedly.

"Just something that's been bothering me is all."

"Want to share?"

The Lantean looked conflicted for a moment, but then bit her lip in the way Vivian had come to recognize as her tell for when she was torn between her duty and her love for her family. As it most often did, her family won out.

"There's something important I need to tell you, something that I shouldn't."

"Would telling me get you in trouble with the Others?" Vivian asked, alarmed.

"It shouldn't," Ganos said with a shake of her head. "As an Ascended yourself, you have a right to know, but some of the Others don't agree. I'm afraid that if I tell you they might take their displeasure out on you."

"I can take care of myself," Vivian told her confidently. "Now spit it out. What is it?"

"There's an oncoming storm which will sweep across the galaxy." Ganos said cryptically.

"Oh really?" Vivian said quirking an eyebrow at that riddle. "Well, I guess that as the Mistress of Storms I'll weather it just fine and might even turn it to my favor."

"I'm sure you will," Ganos said, giggling at the joke. "Though do be careful anyways."

"Always," Vivian said before suddenly pushing her lover flat on the bed and straddling her waist. "But enough talk about serious stuff, I'm ready for another round before we have to go a whole year without. What about you?"

Her reply was Ganos' sultry smile as she reached up to squeeze her breasts.

* * *

As she did at least once every day that time permitted, Kalwart the daughter of Nimue and Ganos Lal was checking her appearance in a mirror in her quarters. Her reflection revealed a striking woman with long black hair, pale skin, startling green eyes and aristocratic facial features who was dressed, as was her wont, in a black Victorian dress which she'd accessorized with a quartet of visible sheathed blades and another two she'd hidden in the folds of her skirt.

Observing every little detail of her appearance and finding most of it acceptable, she began adjusting the last blemish to her otherwise perfect appearance: her hair. Running a brush through it to get rid of any tangles, she let her mind drift.

_My hair needs to perfect for this feast. _Kalwart thought to herself. Her mother was throwing a feast for the various governors of Londinium's districts to commemorate the world's settlement and Kalwart was determined to make a good impression.

_I think it's perfect as is. _Kalise, her Goa'uld half, commented as it looked out through their share eyes.

_But it has to be more than perfect. _Aster, her human half, countered. _We need to overawe these governors to ensure their continued loyalty._

_Appearances alone won't do that. Unlike the slaves of the other Goa'uld, the governors know we aren't gods. We'll need more than appearances to keep them in line._ Kalise shot back.

_That's true, but every little bit counts. _Kalwart chimed in with her own opinion.

_Exactly. _Aster added smugly.

Kalwart rolled her eyes at her human side childishly stealing the last word even as she finished putting the final touches to her hair.

Ready at last, she stood to leave when suddenly her kara kesh beeped with the tune indicative of an urgent message.

Reading the hastily written communique from one of their spies in Apep's court, Kalwart gasped.

Immediately she raced to find her mother, her guards scrambling to keep pace.

Nimue was exactly where she expected her to be, in the war room.

Her mother was also dressed for the feast. She was wearing a gown of soft velvet, the gray of storm clouds. It had a series of lightning bolts and towering waves had been delicately stitched around the low round neck of the gown. And was completed by thick, belled, sleeves that fell down to nearly hide her hands.

_Mum looks amazing. _Aster noted with a burst of pride.

Kalwart agreed, though now was not the time to dwell on her mother's attractiveness. Even as the look of her seated on her throne while staring intently at a holographic display of Goa'uld space with the domains of the various System Lords and Underlords highlighted made her look like some elegant goddess of war planning some ingenious strategy.

"Have you heard the news, Kalwart?" Her mother asked, drawing the blended woman from her admiring thoughts.

"Apep is dead and Anubis has assumed his title while subsuming his territory and forces." Nimue's Prime Minister informed her sovereign. "A state of affairs that will definitely be challenged by many of the other System Lords probably led by Ra."

Nimue nodded, turning to face her at last.

"What are our options?"

"We could stay neutral. We would lose favor with the eventual winner but considering the size of our fleet no one would risk challenging us as doing so would lead to losses that would leave them vulnerable." Kalwart said as clinically as she could manage, even as the very idea disgusted her.

"Another option would be to side with Anubis."

Kalwart was about to elaborate on the pros and cons of pursuing this option when her mother spoke.

"Impossible." Nimue declared with certainty. "Anubis hates us for challenging his technological superiority within the Empire."

Kalwart nodded, and continued with the third option.

"Lastly, we could join with those opposing Anubis. If our intelligence is correct, this should be the stronger faction but much more divided, though its overall strength should still allow it to secure victory. The problem however with aligning ourselves with them is that we are currently surrounded by Anubis' allies and would thus immediately become a target."

The System Lord pondered their options and her decision for a long moment, one in which Kalwart waited patiently but anxiously. She was fully aware that whatever choice her mother made would change the fate of their domain and have far reaching consequences for the Empire as a whole. They were one of the most powerful domains on the frontier, and if their reserve and secret fleets were taken into account likely the Empire as a whole. As such, whoever they chose to side with, if any, would be greatly strengthened.

"We cannot sit idle and do nothing." Her mother said at long last. "Chances are Anubis will order his allies to attack us even if we do. He would want to steal some of their technology or to weaken us to the point where she would have to side with him just to survive."

"That would fit his modus operandi."

"That being the case, we should take the fight to him." Nimue said, a calculating look in her eyes as she examined the holographic display once. "Summon Zintar and get Eldarose on the comms. We have a war to plan."

* * *

**And another one is finished!**

**Alright first off, I realize that what Nimue describes in this chapter as wolf pack tactics isn't quite right, but Harry wouldn't know that and so neither does Nimue. She's basically applying her vague idea about what it is to the tactic she's devised to make full use of the Shel'tak which as you've noticed is just a revision of the swarming tactic she employed for her Al'kesh in her first battle.**

**Secondly, there was a lot of Nimue just looking over her domain, its military and its technological achievements this chapter. Apologies if it's boring, but it's necessary. Without this chapter, there would be no basis for just how powerful or advanced Nimue's forces are which would make a lot of the things they do in the battles in the next few chapters seemingly come out of nowhere.**

**Review responses:**

**For the guest who reviewed Chapter 5 stating that the Nimue back then still "****sounds like a teenage Harry Potter" despite having lived as a Goa'uld for decades: That's a valid constructive criticism. Thank you. That was a product of a deliberate attempt to show the difference in Nimue when she wears the mask of a megalomaniacal Goa'uld and her true nature. My thinking was that Nimue's true self hadn't really had much chance for actual growth by that point, so she'd still be pretty similar. In hindsight I admit that there probably some growth depicted. If _anyone_ has suggestions on how to tweak it, I'll appreciate it. The caveat as always that I will not do a major rewrite. Of course, what constitutes that is up to my sole discretion.  
**

**Update (10 Aug 2019): So a guest reviewer left a review on the previous chapter about how Nimue being a mortal defeating several Ascended almost made them drop the story. That's just... Unless it's unclear, by the point that Nimue reached the Leaky Cauldron on the Ascended Plane, she'd become an Ascended Being. One of a type unlike the Ancients or anything they're familiar with. That is why Ganos was sent to investigate her in the first place. Plus the same reviewer claims I delete disagreeing reviews? No, I delete reviews which essentially curse me out or just pointlessly say "I don't like" and does not explain why or those who are nothing more than expletive ridden posts. That's all.**

**That I think is all that's worth discussing this chapter. Do drop me a PM or review if you think I missed anything out. Till next time, peace out. **


	8. The Anubian War: On the Offensive

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter Eight: The Anubian War: On the Offensive**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

With full-scale war upon them, Drake had in a bid to get a taste of the fighting, stepped down as the Fleet Lord of _The Le Fay_'s escort fleet and accepted a relative demotion to join the frontlines. His new command consisted of a wolf pack of three Shel'taks and twelve Al'kesh.

A force that he was currently leading in an ambush of a enemy Ha'tak and its twelve escorting Al'kesh as they resupplied on a world bordering Nimue's domain.

The enemy was caught completely by surprise as his squadron dropped out of hyperspace. They were out of formation, with their Al'kesh spread out presumably to gather resources from different supply depots on the surface.

"Just like planned! Shel'taks cut that Ha'tak apart! Al'kesh split up into your flights and hunt down the enemy!" Drake ordered even as the pyramids at the bows of his destroyers glowed a brilliant ruby red as they awaited his command.

Upon the receipt of his order, his unit's Al'kesh broke formation and in flights of three set off to hunt their enemy counterparts. More dramatically, at the same time, the bows of each of his capital chips shot out a crimson beam of superheated plasma that proceeded to slam against the shield of the opposing mothership. The shield flashed into the visible spectrum in the form of a bright blue bubble around the beleaguered ship, but its strength quickly began to visibly fade as its blue hue became more and more faint.

The enemy had not been idle. Despite their surprise, the Jaffa of the Ha'tak rallied quickly and began returning fire with its Staff Cannon batteries. However, Drake's destroyers were far too maneuverable for the still recovering gunnery crews on the Ha'tak to get a lock. They circled around the larger ship, jinxing and dodging wherever necessary, avoiding the vast majority of the return fire and allowing their weaker but still powerful shields to absorb the occasional hit to little effect. All whilst at the same time, they returned fire with their own Staff Cannons and lances from their plasma beams.

Outclassed, it was only a matter of moments before the Ha'tak's shields failed and the plasma beams and bolts tore into it, shattering armor and opening massive rents into the void of space.

Watching as the Ha'tak was reduced to a wreck, Drake turned to his tactical officer.

The woman nodded, at his unasked question and began relaying the situation with the rest of his squadron.

"All Al'kesh flights are inbound. ETA is two minutes. They are all reporting success."

"Losses?" The Fleet Lord asked, pleased with his victory.

"Two ships KIA."

Drake winced, as he realized he would have to spend much of the trip back to base penning condolence letters as a result of those losses.

"Noted," the child of Nimue said, showing no other sign of his agitation. "Let's form up and return to base."

His crew returned their agreement and as he watched the survivors of his flotilla quickly fell back into formation. As a group, they jumped into hyperspace leaving behind the site of victory with little to mark their presence besides the charred remains of their enemies.

"Ship Lord, you have command." Drake said once the fleet was safely in hyperspace.

"Yes, my lord." The lady captain replied with a textbook salute.

Drake just nodded and began walking towards the rings station off the bridge, his mind already formulating the report he would pen for the First Fleet Lord.

_I'm sure Sister will be pleased by this victory, even with the losses. It'll add to our tally so far quite nicely._

* * *

In her quarters on her flagship _Rose Garden _and seated behind the mahogany desk of her office, Eldarose, daughter of Nimue and her First Fleet Lord, reviewed the state of the war via a series of hardlight displays emitted by a projector linked to a computer built directly into the desk.

Like her twin Kalwart, Eldarose had long black hair, pale skin, startling green eyes and aristocratic features. Also like her twin, she too favored Victorian gowns though she preferred a crimson color scheme.

"The war in space is going well," the elegant woman concluded as she finished going through Drake's report on his latest battle.

"I wish I could say the same for our ground battles," the daughter of Nimue said with a frown as she eyed the list of reports she'd received about the aforementioned campaigns.

_They're starting to bog us down. _Eldine, her Goa'uld half, commented with a hint of worry.

Eldarose groaned. Looks like they were going to have _this _argument again. They had been having it on and off for weeks now and she was tired of it.

_They are, _Rose her human half said agreeing with her Goa'uld counterpart. _If only Mother listened to our advice and focused on expansion in the more conventional Goa'uld way. If she'd conquered and subsumed populations from other Goa'uld, then we would have the armies they need now!_

_You do recall that Mother explicitly wants to differentiate herself from the other Goa'uld, correct? _Eldarose reminded Rose.

_Fat load of good that's doing us now, _Eldine said with a frustrated sigh. _Thanks to that policy our forces are getting pinned down. The enemy has realized the extent of our numerical disadvantage and are making the conquest of their worlds costly, drawn out affairs to exploit it._

_They aren't just holding our armies in place either, _Rose added. _They're also starting to take a toll on our fleets as a growing number of our ships are being forced to stay behind to support our ground troops_.

_I know that. But for now things are still manageable. _Eldarose reassured her other personalities. _We still have enough forces at the moment to maintain the initiative. _

_But for long? _Eldine asked, voicing the worry that plagued all three of them.

Eldarose frowned, unable to give a good reply. It was true that they were stretched thin, perhaps too thin. However, she could see no way around the problem. They had already activated all their reserves and deployed their secret fleets. Some would take time before they could join the fight, but everything that could be done had already been done. Yet, they continued to feel the strain.

_Perhaps, we should withdraw from some of the more contested areas for the time being and consolidate our defenses? _Rose suggested.

_And lose the initiative? _Eldine replied scandalized. Her Goa'uld nature repulsed by the very idea of giving up any territory that they'd gained.

_It might be the smart thing to do, _Eldarose said consideringly. _Before the enemy makes us._

Perhaps her thoughts had jinxed them or it was just pure coincidence but they had just played through her mind when alarm klaxons began sounding urgently to signal battle stations.

Shelving her musings, the Fleet Lord jumped to her feet and raced towards the nearest ring station even as her quartet of Jaffa guards fell in behind her.

She barely waited for the last armored warrior to get within the radius of the rings before calling them down up and transporting them to the bridge station. Even before the light of the teleportation faded, she was striding confidently towards the Pel'tak.

Stepping into the _Rose Garden_'s bridge she was greeted with the sight of the well trained crew working to assess the situation and respond.

"Ship Lord, report." The child of Nimue barked as she took her seat on the command throne.

"A large enemy fleet has jumped out of hyperspace and are rapidly closing on our position."

"How large?"

"Sensors report 18 Ha'taks, 12 Shel'taks and 77 Al'kesh," the Ship Lord replied, anxiety slipping into his normally collected voice.

_They have us outgunned. _Eldarose noted with a frown. Her fleet only had 6 Ha'taks, 18 Shel'tak and 36 Al'kesh. _By a significant margin at that._

_No single enemy in this region of space has enough uncounted for ships to muster such a large fleet. _Rose noted warily.

_That can only mean that our enemies have finally started to work together. _Eldine concluded. _It seems Anubis has tired of their lack of cooperation._

Eldarose sent a burst of agreement, but didn't otherwise respond to her other personalities' observations. She had a battle to fight.

"Contact our commander on the planet below. Tell them to begin a retreat through the Chappa'ai," she ordered with a frown, knowing how many men they were likely to lose carrying it out. "And power up out hyperdrives."

"We're going to run?" The Ship Lord asked, surprised but also relieved.

"I'd rather live to fight another day then die in a valiant but futile last stand." Eldarose shot back irritably before she continued barking orders. "Recover our Death Gliders quickly. They have two minutes. After which Ha'taks are to raise shields! Shel'taks, Al'kesh close and target the enemy Ha'taks while they're deploying their Gliders. Ha'taks provide screening fire."

Like a well-oiled machine, Eldarose's fleet moved at her command. Gliders, previously flying Combat Air Patrol (CAP) or supporting the ground forces, pushed their engines to the limit as they shot back to their Ha'tak carriers at full speed. At the same time, every ship in her fleet opened fire with every weapon within range of the enemy.

Nimue had maintained a slight technological advantage in terms of her weapons as compared to her enemies and this showed as her barrage was accurate despite being well outside the enemy's own range. This allowed her to, through the use of concentrated fire, take out a pair of the enemy Ha'taks busy deploying their Death Gliders before they could even fire back.

However, this advantage soon evaporated as the enemy quickly closed the slight difference in range and began returning fire in earnest. At this point, their superior firepower began to take its toll and Eldarose began losing ships. That was not to say she didn't return the favor though as her thrust into the enemy formation with her Al'kesh and Shel'taks punched a hole through their line and allowed them sink another five enemy motherships.

This had come at a heavy cost though and Eldarose was starting to lose ships more and more quickly. Particularly as after her opening move, the battle devolved into a standard brawl as ships swarmed around each other, maneuvering to avoid enemy fire whilst also attempting to bring their own guns to bear on their targets. A fight that Eldarose's smaller, increasingly depleted fleet was losing.

"_Danube_ lost." The tactical officer reported, as another of her Ha'taks it's shields depleted took a direct hit and was destroyed.

"Skrewt Squadron is reporting they are down to two ships." The comms officer added with calm professionalism, even as the _Rose Garden _was shaken by a particularly violent hit that sent sparks flying overhead as the power systems began to show the strain of maintaining the shield.

"_Sphinx _has lost propulsion." The tactical officer reported once more, relaying the effective loss of one of her Shel'taks.

_We're losing! We need to get out of here! _Rose all but screamed in her mind, overwhelmed by panic. _Aren't our hyperdrives charged yet?_

"_Horntail lo-_" The comms officer began, only to quickly change her report. "All ships report hyperdrive ready."

"Jump!" Eldarose ordered urgently. "All able ships jump now!"

Her forces didn't hesitate. The moment the order was given, her ships immediately began disengaging from the battle. Those fortunate enough to be at the edges simply jumped straight out whilst those deeper in the engagement quickly banded together and with the _Rose Garden _at its head, blasted a path out of the enemy's nearly complete encirclement and into open space. They had barely cleared the line of the enemy ships, when one by one Nimue's ships leapt into hyperspace.

As the blue light of hyperspace suffused the Pel'tak, signaling the success of their safe escape, Eldarose turned to her Ship Lord.

"Status of the fleet?"

"It'll take a while to confirm," the captain said, nervously. "But based on our estimates we've lost a third of our forces."

Eldarose just nodded and leaned back and closed her eyes. She had no words to describe the sense of failure she felt at the moment.

* * *

She was not the only one of Nimue's commanders facing setbacks however. A fact that the System Lord was confronted by as she sat in her war room on Hogwarts and received word of multiple losses from the front. In an expected move, her previously divided enemies had finally decided, or were forced, to consolidate their forces together thus allowing them to for the first time since the start of this war actually match her in the field.

"I had counted on them staying divided long enough to knock at least some of them out," Nimue said with a frustrated sigh as she looked at the strategic map being displayed by the holographic projector. "But it seems Anubis saw through my plan and forced them to unite before I could."

"Our successes against their divided forces, probably only served to make it easier for him to convince them." Kalwart, noted, dutifully standing to Nimue's right and also staring at the holographic image of their region of space.

Nimue nodded distractedly, as she leaned back on her throne and considered what to do to salvage the situation. In truth, the choice was clear: she had to find an ally of her own.

It was something she would have had to do inevitably. She was nowhere near strong enough to stand against Anubis' lackeys alone, even just those on the frontier. That said, she couldn't help but find the very idea distasteful and why she had put it off as long as she had.

The other Goa'uld, outside her own children, were her enemies. Every last of them. To be forced to work alongside them felt like nothing less than a betrayal of what she stood for.

That said, she was not foolish enough to allow her own feelings from getting in the way of doing what needed to be done. The question though was who should she seek out as an ally.

_The logical first option would be Ra, since he's leading the fight against Anubis. That said he's preoccupied as is and furthermore his domain is too far away. He's unlikely to want to deploy any forces so far from his own territories and even if he was willing, they would take too long to arrive to make any difference. _

That the other System Lord would use any assistance he offered as an excuse to impose control over her just made the idea of appealing for his aid even more unpalatable.

_I guess that among the other System Lords opposing Anubis that really only leaves Yu. _Nimue concluded with a frown.

The Chinese themed System Lord was the only other major Goa'uld whose philosophy to rule was similar enough to hers for her to stomach an alliance. Like her he strove to be a benevolent ruler that imposed his will through a velvet glove over an iron fist rather than pure terror. His domain was also relatively close to her own, making an alliance between them even more practical on a logistical and strategic level.

_Even better, he's also encountering difficulties lately in his campaigns._

The self-styled Jade Emperor had never had the most extensive fleets having chosen to maintain a relatively modest collection of ships, and instead devoting his resources into building up a strong force of Jaffa to allow him to maintain order in his large domain and to facilitate quick conquest.

Unfortunately, with their enemies pooling their forces they were gaining an insurmountable numerical advantage over his fleets.

_He's facing the opposite of my problems. I have the ships but they are tied down and unable to consolidate in numbers sufficient to fend off the enemy as they are too busy supporting my undermanned armies. He has the armies but not the ships. That means that if we do become allies, our forces will complement each other well. _

"Kalwart," Nimue called out to her daughter as she firmed up her decision. "Begin making overtures for an alliance with Yu immediately."

"As you command, Your Majesty." Kalwart replied with a bow and rushed off to carry out her instructions.

"Your Majesty," Zintar said from across the hologram. "I believe there might be a more practical way to convince Lord Yu to enter into an alliance."

Nimue waved at him to continue.

Her First Prime gestured at a point in the room's holographic display, causing it to zoom in onto a particular system.

"This world, Xuè Chí," the veteran Jaffa said, indicating the only habitable world in the system. "Is being besieged by Yu however our intelligence indicates that fleets loyal to Yanluo and Hanuman, both servants to Anubis, are massing to counterattack with overwhelming force."

At another gesture of his, the display zoomed out a tad to show a grouping of red pyramids signifying the hostile fleet he mentioned. It was holding position in deep space just a stone's throw away form the system that contained Xuè Chí and was surrounded by smaller red pyramids that represented the steady stream of forces that were reinforcing the already sizable armada.

"If we assist Lord Yu in this battle, I believe he'd be more inclined to join our side."

* * *

A week later, in the orbit over Xuè Chí, the System Lord Yu-huang Shang Ti watched with mounting anger as his fleet was being torn apart by the superior enemy forces. Despite the valiant efforts of his Jaffa, his ships were dying one by one.

As yet another of Ha'taks died and began a uncontrolled descent into the blood red, algae choked oceans that had earned the world below its name, the Goa'uld took stock of his few remaining warships.

_Two Ha'taks, eight Shel'taks and a smattering of Al'kesh._ The lord of the Celestial Court counted with dismay. _Barely enough to hold the line._

_I was a fool to trust Nimue. _The Goa'uld inhabiting the body of a short, stocky Chinese man with a prominent goatee thought, all but spitting on his fellow System Lord's name. _She has left me to die._

_Though perhaps I can still avoid that fate. _The System Lord mused as he pondered the possibility of retreat or even surrender. Both were humiliating options that he was loathe to even consider but he had no choice but to do so as defeated seemed imminent.

"My lord!" His First Prime shouted suddenly, drawing Yu from his thoughts. "A new fleet has just dropped out of hyperspace."

"Whose?" Yu asked with a grunt of annoyance. More of the enemy, here to further rub salt into the wound of his defeat?

"It's Lady Nimue's, my lord!"

Yu was honestly surprised. Considering the state of his forces, he didn't expect that she would show. If he was in her position, he wouldn't have. What use was saving an ally that was already defeated?

He let none of his shock show however.

"Finally." He grunted, relief sneaking into his voice despite his best efforts.

* * *

Yu-huang Shang Ti played the gracious host aboard his flagship as he threw a lavish feast to celebrate his victory over Xuè Chí with his guest and fellow System Lord Nimue as guest of honor. A title he was more than chivalrous enough to offer the woman whose forces had saved him from the jaws of a disastrous defeat and allowed their combined fleet to handedly destroy the enemy.

As they both settled into their seats at the head of the hall where he'd set up the feast, and enjoyed the performances of his dancers and minstrels, he turned to his fellow Goa'uld lounging on the divan he'd provided her.

The woman she'd chosen as a host was young, barely of child bearing age if his estimate was correct, and was all the more beautiful for it. She had raven black hair that flowed down her back in beautiful waves, alabaster skin, elegant facial features, and an admirable if petite figure. All of which was enhanced by the vigor of youth. It created an overall package that left Yu admiring Nimue's choice.

He did not share the same level of hedonism some of his peers possessed in regards to sensual consumption of human flesh, but he was not a celibate like Nimue had become in recent times either. As such, her beauty still stirred quite a reaction from his host's loins.

Not that he was about to let his lust get in the way.

"I hear from my First Prime that you misjudged the timing of the enemy attack," the self-styled Jade Emperor said, drawing his peer's attention from the dancers where she'd been all but enthralled. Or more accurately from the one girl who resembled the last concubine she'd known to have taken.

Briefly Yu considered offering the girl to Nimue as a gift, but discounted the notion. Many were the Goa'uld who had tried to curry her favor in the same way but it had amounted to nothing. Rumor had it that she released from her service all the women she'd received anyways, no matter how closely they resembled her lost pet.

"Oh yes," Nimue said, answering his question after taking a moment to collect herself. "We didn't think they would strike so early, so set out a little late. Apologies."

Yu could understand the mistake. War was a fluid thing. However, that little to smother his lingering anger at how this slight delay had cost him a sizable number of ships.

"So does our agreement still stand?" The female System Lord asked.

"Yes," Yu replied despite his anger.

Allying with Nimue remained the best course of action available to him.

"Between your fleets and my armies, we will crush our foes easily." He boasted, raising a bronze jue filled with wine for a toast.

"We shall," Nimue agreed, accepting the toast with a raised mug of ale.

They both downed their drinks, before Nimue spoke once more.

"And about the distribution of the spoils?"

"As agreed, we shall discuss this after the war and come up with a fair arrangement."

Nimue looked at him skeptically and he bristled a bit at her questioning his honor, though before he could react the woman nodded in acceptance.

"But know that if you betray me, I'll reduce your worlds into barren wastes via orbital bombardment." She warned coldly.

_A viable threat considering the losses my fleets have suffered of late, _Yu lamented. _If she ever had to carry it out, there's little I can do to stop her._

That said, the System Lord was still annoyed at her for doubting his word.

_I suppose I shall just have to demonstrate to her that I am a man of honor._

* * *

Some months after the victory at Xuè Chí, Drake stood on the Pel'tak of his Ha'tak, the _Golden Hind_, as an enemy Ha'tak's shields collapsed and it was practically deatomized by a rain of weapons fire from the combined fleet of ships from both Nimue and Yu. The barrage of sustained fire was so intense that both these things happened so close to each other that even to his trained eyes they appeared to happen at the same time.

Regardless of the details, he couldn't help but smirk in pride at the sight. It was after all the culmination of an epic victory that saw their forces defeating a numerically superior foe.

"No more hostile capital ships detected." His tactical officer reported professionally through the broad grin she was sporting.

Smiling himself, he nodded and began issuing new orders.

"Move us back into an alert formation and keep a lookout for enemy Gliders. They might try a suicide attack."

That reminder that while the battle was largely over, there remained hostiles in the local space to worry about sobered the crew and they went about their tasks with renewed seriousness. Though they continued to glow with joy at their victory.

Drake allowed them this indulgence. They deserved it for a job well done. That said, there remained much to be done.

"Start work on assessing the damage the _Hind_ has sustained and begin repairs," Drake ordered. "I want a full report on its status and that of the fleet in twelve hours."

"Yes, my lord." His XO replied dutifully.

Nodding in satisfaction that everything was in order, he turned to the Pel'tak's primary viewscreen and watched as a flotilla of friendly Ha'tak and escorts dropped out of hyperspace.

_The second wave has arrived right on schedule._

These ships were filled to the brim with Jaffa, mainly in service to Lord Yu, that would secure the planet below while the main fleet moved on.

_Which means we'll be able to get on with kicking the enemy's behind once repairs are complete. _Drake thought with a expectant grin. _I can't wait!_

* * *

**And that's an action packed chapter done and dusted.**

**I hope you guys like it.**

**Hmm… Anything particular I want to discuss?**

**Well, I guess I should expand on my thoughts on Yu's characterization. Basically, my version of Yu-huang Shang Ti is what canon!Yu would have been before extended use of the Sarcophagus and old age warped him. Even in canon, he's shown to be reasonably honorable so I kept that here and even enhanced it in light of the above. He's also a lot more tame in his tastes than other Goa'uld, again even in canon. So unlike Oisin and his court earlier in the story, Yu isn't going to be transforming his feasts into orgies. Altogether, my version of Yu is actually quite a decent person at least for a Goa'uld. Hope you guys like him.**

**Oh, speaking about the feast. I had Yu use a jue. Some of you might be wondering what's that, well here's the definition direct from Wikipedia: ****A **_**jue**_ **is a shape of Chinese ritual bronze, a tripod vessel or goblet used to serve warm wine. I know that it's supposed to historically only used as part of ceremonies, but in period shows they are often also used as drinking vessels in the day to day by the nobility and royalty so I felt it was fitting to use it here.**

**Review responses:**

**Velial13: I PM'd you and asked for examples for where the punctuation you claimed to be missing so that I could rectify it but received no reply, so I will open it to all readers. Anyone can guess what they mean? ****Velial13**** also mentioned that the third blended personality of Nimue's children is a sign of mental disorder, well it isn't. It's a quirk of Nimue's Goa'uld children. Unlike normal Tok'ra and Goa'uld, her unique nature as a Ascended Goa'uld Queen means that her children are slightly different. As a result, when her children blend there is a chance of a unique third personality that incorporates aspect of both host and symbiote to form.**

**Well, I guess that's it for this chapter. Till next time, ciao.**


	9. The Anubian War: On the Defensive

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter Nine: The Anubian War: On the Defensive**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

Ten years into the war with Anubis and his pawns found Francis Drake on the Pel'tak of the _Vengeful Hind_ and commanding a wolf pack of three Shel'taks.

His last ship, the Ha'tak, _Golden Hind_, had been lost during a particularly bloody but ultimately victorious battle over Hanuman's throneworld. He'd been offered a replacement for his years of exemplary service but had declined in favour of trying his hand commanding a Shel'tak once more.

Currently his little squadron was following the hyperspace trail detected by their advanced sensors of an odd enemy fleet they'd discovered while scouting the space lanes along the front. The enemy formation was an oversized supply fleet made out of three Ha'taks and a dozen Tel'taks traveling into a region of space within which intelligence had until now not detected any significant enemy fleet movements.

"My lord, the targets are dropping out of hyperspace."

Nodding at his sensor officer, he turned to tactical.

"Order our ships to follow suit but maintain distance and remain under shroud." Drake ordered.

At his command, his wolf pack dropped out of hyperspace a significant distance away from the enemy that they had been tailing while simultaneously activating their onboard shroud devices. With the presence thus concealed, the three destroyers began surreptitiously surveying the local region of space.

"My lord!" The alarmed sensors officer shouted a moment later. "Large enemy fleet detected."

"How large?"

"I'm reading over a hundred capital ships!" The young woman gasped, shocked by the numbers.

The shock was understandable. While fleet sizes had grown ever larger as the war dragged on and ship production accelerated, a hundred capital ships still represented a significant portion of any System Lord's forces.

"Do we have a visual?"

"Putting it on screen," the sensor officer said professionally, having regained her calm.

As the image appeared on the primary viewscreen, Drake looked on warily as it displayed the large enemy fleet quickly reorganize itself to incorporate the new additions and begin to move.

"What's their bearing?" The Fleet Lord asked already dreading the answer.

"They appear to be headed into the core of our space," the sensor officer confirmed.

Drake felt a chill go down his spine. With the bulk of their forces fighting at the front, the core of their domain was only lightly defended. Relatively speaking at least. It still possessed a significant force by the standards of most Goa'uld, but against the monstrously large fleet before his eyes those defenses would not be enough.

_I can't worry about that. _The child of Nimue decided. _I just need to do my duty and hope that Mother and her advisors have a way to counter this threat._

"Get the _Stalker_ to fall back a safe distance where its transmissions are unlikely to be intercepted at once. We need to relay this news to Hogwarts immediately." Drake ordered. "As for the rest of us, follow those ships! We'll need every bit of intelligence on them we can squeeze out if we have any hope to stop them."

Even as his sailors carried out his orders with the skill and discipline of the well-oiled machine their training had made them into, Darke could not felt nervous about what lie ahead.

* * *

Ma'toc, former member of Nimue's elite guard, the Lake Knights, and currently one of her Second Primes stood at attention in his goddess' war room as he fulfilled the role as Master Zintar's second in the Lady's war council. A role that the blue haired Jaffa felt incredibly proud for being afforded the honor to carry out.

Though he wished it was under better circumstances as he struggled to maintain his composure under the fearful tension that filled the air of the august chamber.

He could understand why though, the combined forces of Lady Numue and Lord Yu had conquered a dozen worlds in the war so far but now everything was in jeopardy. A large enemy fleet had just been reported to be bound for Hogwarts at a time when the bulk of the Lady's fleets were too far away to respond in time.

This meant the throneworld was faced with a threat it might not be able to repel and should it fall, they would be dealt an immense symbolic blow even as the loss of its industry and its role as their primary logistic base would greatly hamper their war effort.

Ma'toc privately felt that they should just evacuate the planet, taking as much of its industry as they could with them.

However, the decision rested with his goddess.

"We fight," Lady Nimue said decisively upon being briefed on the situation.

"Your Majesty, please see reason!" Lady Eldarose, his goddess' First Fleet Lord, shouted passionately over the subspace comms. "We don't have the numbers to win."

"I must concur, my lady." Master Zintar, Ma'toc's mentor and the Lady's First Prime, cut in with his agreement.

"I disagree," His goddess said with a shake of her head. "With the recall of all nearby fleets and Hogwarts' orbital defenses, we still stand a chance. And so long as there's still a chance, I'll take it. I'll not give up Hogwarts without a fight."

Ma'toc admired his goddess' bravery and determination, but the Jaffa couldn't help but doubt the strategic sense in her course of action. It seemed like she was acting on emotion rather than logic.

Master Zintar seemed to agree if his resigned sigh was any indication. Despite his misgivings, the veteran did his duty.

"If that's the case, my lady." He said as he stood. "Then I volunteer to lead the defense."

Lady Nimue looked at him searchingly for a moment, perhaps testing his resolve with her magic. Whatever she found seemed to satisfy her and she nodded.

"Thank you, Zintar." She said, offering her First Prime a respectful nod causing Ma'toc's eyes to widen in shock. It was unheard of for a Goa'uld, much less a System Lord to show a Jaffa such respect.

"It is my honor to serve, my lady." The aged warrior said with a deep bow that Ma'toc emulated, not just out of protocol but out of a desire to return the respect she had offered his mentor.

For her part, Nimue just nodded before turning back to the holographic display that now showed the image of the local system.

"Then let's plan the planet's defense." The System Lord said after a moment. "We don't have much time."

* * *

We don't have much time.

Those were what his liege had said when they first began planning the defense of Hogwarts, but as the days wore on and the enemy had yet to strike, they seemed ever more ironic. Not that they were wrong per se. While the enemy had not reached them yet, their time was limited and they had been forced to hurriedly ready their defenses, recall nearby fleets and all many of other preparations.

But those were largely the work of his subordinates. For Zintar himself, most of the time since that initial planning session had been spent waiting for the anvil to drop.

Thus it was that he was pacing impatiently on the Pel'tak of one of the massive orbital defense stations that his goddess had built in Hogwarts' orbit. Based off the Hasara space station, these behemoths were much larger than the their inspiration being twice as large as a Ha'tak but was otherwise similar in appearance, though as befitting their role they were studded with a whole host of weapons including massive scaled up plasma beam emitters and even a built in shroud generator.

With three of these stations, along with 24 Ha'tak, 63 Shel'taks, 127 Al'kesh, thousands of Death Gliders and hundreds of anti-orbital staff batteries located on the planet's surface, Hogwarts was one of the most heavily defended worlds in Goa'uld space.

A world that had previously been considered suicidal to attack it.

However, if the latest estimates on the size of the incoming enemy fleet was to be believed that was a thing of the past. When the enemy finally did hit them, they'd be outnumbered and outgunned close to three to one.

Defending Hogwarts was increasingly looking like it would be a futile last stand.

_But my goddess demands it and I will obey. _Zintar thought loyally. _I will fight and if need be, die proudly as a servant of Nimue!_

He hadn't always thought this way, of course. When he had first entered her service all those centuries ago, he had thought her a fool that would force him to endure an inglorious death. Back then he would have never thought she'd have been able to build a domain this powerful.

_Much less see it with my own eyes._

This was because Zintar was old. Ancient in fact, by Jaffa standards. He was almost four hundred years old already. Well past the normal lifespan of even his long lived race. He should be dead and buried long ago, but thanks to his Lady's generosity in sharing the miraculous healing technologies available to her, he'd lived long pass the lifespan of a normal Jaffa and had the honour to see the prosperous domain she created.

One where human and Jaffa were not treated as slaves, but with respect and even afforded rights by their overlords.

_She is truly a goddess. _Zintar thought to himself ironically.

He had long come to realize that the Goa'uld were not true gods, as most Jaffa eventually do, but for all that they had done, he sincerely felt that Nimue and her children may be the closest thing to actual divinities. For no other beings who claimed such the title came anywhere close to looking after the well being of their subjects as well as they did.

"My lord, the outer sensor picket has picked up the enemy fleet dropping out of hyperspace." The sensor officer informed him, pulling him from his thoughts.

_So our time has run out. _He thought grimly.

"Very good." Zintar nodded to the young sailor. "Have they entered the minefield?"

"They are doing so...now!"

Smiling, Zintar turned to the viewscreen and watched with grim satisfaction as the enemy fleet, now numbering a little over a hundred and twenty capital ships blundered into the hidden minefield that his forces had lain. The mines disguised as asteroids and with a range of devices built into them to avoid detection activated immediately and using their limited gravitic drives threw themselves at the leading elements of the enemy fleet. A sea of explosions ripped dozens of enemy ships to shreds.

Sadly, a clear path was soon made through the minefield. Despite the time they had been given, there simply had not been enough mines available to make a more comprehensive minefield. That and making it too dense would have given away what it was.

"Enemy count?"

"48 Ha'tak, 58 Shel'tak, 79 Al'kesh."

"We got twenty of their capitals," Zintar's XO said with a smirk. "A respectable tally."

"But still not enough." Zintar countered. "Have they entered our firing range?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Then fire at will!"

At his command, the combined might of the Hogwarts defense force unleashed their fury against the invaders. Exploiting their superior range, Nimue's loyal Jaffa rained a storm of plasma bolts and beams upon their enemy. More and more enemy ships burned, still too distant to return any effective fire. The less advanced magnetic shells of their own plasma bolts unable to make the distance to hit the defenders, before dissipating and harmlessly dispersing their plasma payloads.

"40 Ha'tak, 42 Shel'tak, 55 Al'kesh." The sensors officer reported the current enemy tally with glee.

Zintar could commiserate. This was shaping up to be an a fair fight after all.

"Enemy has reached to their effective range. They're opening fire."

_And the real battle begins._

"Strike craft?"

"Engaged."

Turning away from the visual feed he'd been watching until now, Zintar examined the tactical screen on the main viewscreen closely. The red triangles of enemy strike craft were mixing in with friendly Gliders and Al'kesh in a chaotic mess that reflected well the confusion of the furious battle outside.

Almost in contrast, the capital ships on both sides were formed up into neat and orderly lines as they began to bombard each other into submission. At least most of them. Unlike the other capital ships, even their enemy counterparts, the icons representing friendly Shel'taks were splitting into wolf packs and flitting in and out of their lines to launch hit and run attacks on the enemy.

_We're doing damage. They're losing ships. But it's not enough._

Out in the void, Nimue's Jaffa were reaping a impressive toll on the invaders. Shel'tak wolf packs used their maneuverability to fly circles around the enemy Ha'taks and sunk one after another of the enemy motherships. Squadrons of Al'kesh and Gliders broke from the strike craft melee to swarm enemy capital ships and destroy them through a thousand cuts. The superior weapons of the defender's Ha'taks and the defense stations, tore the enemy ships asunder in droves.

Nimue's superior quality in technology, in training, in tactics was showing its worth.

But quantity was a quality all its own and slowly but surely she was being overwhelmed.

A Shel'tak caught out of formation and pummeled into its constituent atoms by the enemy. Al'kesh and Death Glider squadrons being worn down and annihilated by sheer attrition. The powerful shields of Ha'taks and even the defense stations beaten down by massive quantities of enemy fire, which in turn reduced the once proud warmachines to wreckage.

* * *

"It was an honor to serve with you, Master Zintar." His XO said as he activated the ring transport around him as the station's Pel'tak was consumed by fire.

_I won't let you sacrifice be in vain, young man. _The old Jaffa promised as he rushed out of the ring station as soon as the rings retracted into their holding bay.

"Status?" He demanded as he burst through the doors of the Ha'tak he had escaped to.

"Disabled, Lord Zintar." The ship's Ship Lord informed him sadly.

"Repairable?"

"My men are working on it as we speak."

"Good." Zintar nodded, before turning to the cracked main viewscreen. "What's the status outside."

"Not good." The middle aged woman informed him. "They've broken through the first line and the second line is buckling."

The woman clearly had a talent for understatement. They had no third line. If the second defensive line collapsed, the enemy would be free to begin orbital bombardment of the planet.

_I'll die before I let that happen._

"We've got sublight online!" The woman manning the engineering station said. Judging from her uniform, she was originally one of the assigned engineering officer's subordinates. Her superior must have been indisposed, leaving her to step up. An all too common state of affairs in unfortunately in this battle.

"Our current position relative to the nearest enemy?" The Ship Lord asked.

"We're in the middle of their fleet." The sensor officer, sporting a cut along her forehead said with a vicious grin. "Looks like they think we're dead in the void."

"I see what you intend ladies," Zintar said with a bloodthirsty smirk of his own. "Let's do it!"

"Take us into the nearest enemy ship! Ramming speed!"

"For Nimue!" Zintar cried out as the ship began to stir back to life at the same time as the warcry was picked up by the rest of the bridge crew. Screaming their declaration of loyalty, Nimue's warriors flew towards their destiny.

* * *

At its Ship Lord's command, the badly damaged Ha'tak that had moments before been drifting uncontrolled in space, lurched back to life and rapidly began accelerating towards one of the enemy motherships that had been passing overhead. The enemy quickly divined its intent and began pouring fire from their Staff Cannons into the ship, but it was too close. Far too close, even as their plasma bolts tore massive holes in its unshielded hull, it still reached its target with the bulk of its mass intact.

A Ha'tak's shields were formidable. They were able to withstand sustained fire from weapons that would glass whole cities in a single shot, so the massive, damaged bulk of Zintar's Ha'tak crumpled against the defensive barrier. However, this only served to expose and destabilize the Naquadah reactor that had powered the ramming ship. The resultant explosion was powerful enough to destroy a decent sized moon. Occurring at point blank range, this was too much for the enemy Ha'tak's shields and it collapsed, exposing the ship's hull to the fury of the miniature sun. Whole chunks of the massive warship was vaporized as it was rendered to yet another addition to the growing ships' graveyard in Hogwarts' orbit.

In spite of Zintar's heroic last act, the battle was lost. Nimue's last defensive line was collapsing. Already ships were beginning to break from the battle in a bid to flee for their lives, not that the enemy were allowing them to do so. All seemed lost when suddenly a massive hyperspace window opened directly behind the enemy fleet.

* * *

The day after the Second Battle of Hogwarts, Nimue was throwing a victory feast in the reception hall of her palace in Gryffindor.

She loathed the necessity, wanting instead to mourn her losses in private. She had lost thousands of loyal sailors and most personal of all Zintar, her First Prime. A man who she had trusted and respected, in some ways even come to see as a mentor. However, her people and Yu expected a feast.

And watching as her people and Yu's celebrated their victory together, she couldn't even bring herself to blame them. The battle had taken a great toll on them, her people especially, and in its aftermath they wanted an excuse to forget their troubles. If even for just a single night.

She couldn't begrudge them that.

Pushing her thoughts on the matter to the side, she turned to her fellow System Lord seated in the place of honor at her right.

He looked solemn and serious, like he often did. The only sign that he was enjoying the merrymaking being his copious consumption of fine rice wine.

"Thank you again, Yu." Nimue told him genuinely. "If you hadn't deployed your reserves and garrison fleets to assist me, my throneworld would have fallen."

She had, of course, publicly thanked him already at the start of the feast but it bore repeating in this more private, more sincere manner.

"Your throneworld?" Yu scoffed. "I hardly think this world qualifies regardless of what you claim."

It _was _an open secret that Hogwarts was only a decoy so she wasn't offended.

"Beyond that," the Chinese styled System Lord continued. "I merely made a strategically sound decision. Our enemies in the region of space had gathered the remainder of their excess strength together to amass that fleet. Its destruction has depleted them and has given us an overwhelming advantage even with your losses."

That much was true. Those aligned with Anubis had thrown every ship they could spare into that one massive fleet they had sent against Hogwarts. With its lost, they were now severely weakened.

"It is time to press the advantage." Yu added.

"Perhaps," Nimue replied cautiously. "We're overstretched though, as this attack proved. We lack sufficient ships to fend off any major attack against our core worlds. Going on the offensive now would just exacerbate the problem."

"That's a coward's way of thinking!" Yu spat, visibly annoyed. "We must not let this opportunity slip by."

Nimue couldn't help but be annoyed at the insult. A coward? Her? After all she'd done, all she'd survived!? How could _anyone _call her a coward?

Stifling her anger though, she stood.

"I tire of this feast," she said coldly, letting just a tinge of her displeasure out on display. "We'll discuss this further tomorrow."

Seeming to realize that he'd offended her, Yu simply nodded despite the fact that her early departure like this could be seen as a sign of disrespect towards him as her guest.

As she walked off towards her quarters though, Nimue couldn't bring herself to care. It had been a long day, she just wanted to sleep. She had no time for such petty things as Goa'uld etiquette.

* * *

The next day, Nimue stood in front of a full length mirror in her bedchambers as her attendants helped put the finishing touches to her dress for the day when Kalwart walked in.

"Out," her daughter barked at the servants.

They looked to Nimue, who nodded in confirmation before bowing to the two Goa'uld and departing.

"Help me with this dress," Nimue ordered, turning to offer her back and the lacing that the servants had left half done. "You can tell me what's so important you had to interrupt me while I was getting dressed at the same time."

Her daughter dutifully stepped forward and began lacing her up whilst simultaneously beginning her briefing.

"We've just received confirmation from our agents." Kalwart said as she pulled tightly on the laces, causing Vivian to suck in a deep breath.

"Sweetie, not so tight." The mother complained.

"Sorry." The younger woman said as she loosened the ties. "Better?"

"Yes, thank you." Vivian said with a smile at her daughter's reflection in the mirror. "Now, what did you receive confirmation about?"

"Ra's defeated Anubis. He caught him in a decisive battle and finished him off."

"He's dead?"

"Missing." Kalwart corrected. "Our agents have been trying to see if he survived somehow. If he has, he's nowhere to be found."

"Biding his time?"

"Possibly," Kalwart said, as she finished lacing her mother's dress and stepped back. "But his allies are jumping ship, so…"

"The war's over." Nimue concluded.

"For now at least."

"We'll take what we can get." Vivian replied, before spinning around to look her daughter in the eye. "Let's not worry about possibilities and enjoy the present for a moment. That being the case, how do I look?"

As the mother and daughter descended into a vapid conversation about fashion, both reveled in how the war's end allowed them this luxury.

* * *

**And done!**

**I don't really like the space battle in this chapter. But it was a learning experience. I'll keep working on them.**

**So I wasn't really planning on posting this today but one of the regular reviewers, Vruon, helped me out with something I intend to work into the fic, so as a thanks I'm releasing it early. Vruon, you're the best. Though much to my chagrin, it'll take a long while until the proposed solution makes an appearance.**

**Besides that… There isn't really anything. This was a pretty straightforward chapter.**

**As such, till next time, peace.**


	10. A new regime

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Chapter Ten: A new regime**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

"Leave us," Nimue told her guards as she stepped into the private dining room in Yu's assigned quarters. The Lake Knights hesitated for a moment, taking the time to scan the room for threats and upon detecting none obeyed.

Sweeping the room herself, the former witch noted that while it had been decorated in the Chinese style as Yu preferred, the job had been hastily done with subtle imperfections throughout the room as evidence of the rush. Or perhaps a lack of care. Or both. She wouldn't put either past their host.

"Ra certainly knows how to be a gracious host, no?" Yu said sarcastically, having noticed his fellow System Lord's scrutiny of their surroundings. "To provide his guests such lavish accommodations for his coronation."

Nimue just snorted in disgust.

"You'd think that he would want to leave a better impression of his throneworld now that he's Supreme System Lord," Nimue retorted as she took a seat at the table across from Yu.

"He _is _giving an impression," Yu insisted. "One where he asserts his authority and pays only lip service to the rest of us who bought him his position."

Nimue nodded in agreement and reached over to a steaming teapot on the table to pour herself a cup.

"Though I would have thought making Earth the capital of the Empire instead of the neutral Hasara Station was symbolic enough of his authority. To go further," She stopped and took a sip of the wonderfully refreshing tea before continuing. "He must be so very full of himself."

"Of course he is," Yu barked out in annoyance. "How else would he have the gall to 'give' us 'privileged' positions and 'allow' us to keep our gains from the war."

Speaking of gains, their little alliance had allowed them to net twelve worlds and three times that many systems. Which to her surprise Yu had readily offered to split equally between them.

Nimue had known that he was honorable, for a Goa'uld, but had not expected him to be upstanding enough to treat her with fairness now that the war was over and their need for each other's assistance was at an end. She'd honestly expected him to use the fact that the bulk of their gains were occupied by his Jaffa as leverage to push for a bigger share of the spoils. His behavior had thus left her pleasantly surprised.

Not that she'd been in a position to accept his offer. She simply did not have the resources to properly assimilate such large territorial gains in a timely manner. Instead, she'd settled for the two worlds closest to her territory and a dozen neighboring systems. A highly uncharacteristic move for a Goa'uld that left Yu confused though he didn't press the issue. Not that she'd expected him to, not when it meant more gains for him.

"More ridiculous political spin." Nimue said, returning to the conversation at hand. "Though it fits with his narrative that it's our reward for tying down Anubis' powerful allies on the frontier."

"Allies that he's replaced with his own lieutenants, undoubtedly with orders to contain us."

"Which is to be expected." Nimue replied taking another sip of her tea. "It's not like we can do anything to stop him."

"Stop him, no. But there are ways to mitigate this threat."

"I'm listening," Nimue said, intrigued.

"I propose we maintain our alliance. Ra clearly sees us as a threat. If we stay united, we'll be an even bigger one." Yu suggested.

The female System Lord hummed thoughtfully. The idea had merit, but there was one major problem.

"Even working together we cannot defeat him. Not with his recent gains."

"No, but we could make any attempt by him to defeat us a hollow victory. The losses we would inflict upon him would shatter any hold he would have on the rest of the Empire. The others know it too."

_I see where you're going with this. _Nimue thought as a devious smile spread itself across her face.

"Which means they won't help him fight us because we can serve as a check on his power."

"Exactly. So what say you?" Yu asked, an eager look in his eyes.

"To our alliance," Nimue said, raising her cup for a toast.

"To our alliance," Yu said clinking his own cup with her own. "Long may it prosper!"

* * *

Ra's coronation was a grand spectacle held in a massive amphitheater carved out of the side of a mountain with a million human slaves, Jaffa and Goa'uld in attendance.

_More political theater. He's just trying to outdo Apep. _Nimue noted with disdain as she walked into the monument to Ra's self-importance alongside Yu in a clear signal to all that despite the end of the war they remained allies. _Though I suppose he's not the only indulging one in theater today._

Between their initial agreement when they had first met upon her arrival on Earth and Ra's coronation a week had passed, providing more than enough time for them to hash out the terms.

While more negotiations would be necessary on the details, the broad strokes would see them join into a full military alliance with limited exchanges of technology. In addition, Nimue agreed to build ships for Yu in exchange for him providing her with Jaffa and human populations.

She hated treating people as commodities like this but she desperately needed the manpower they would provide her, especially in light of her losses in the war.

As she reached her place, again next to Yu, in the specially prepared box set aside for the various System Lords, she surveyed her peers. There had been quite a few changes, with most of Anubis' allies killed or deposed in the war there had been an influx of fresh blood into their ranks. Sadly, the majority of these were little more than Ra's sycophants.

_I doubt many of them will survive long._ Nimue thought dismissively, as she took her seat. As befitting one of Ra's 'honoured guests', she and Yu were one of the last few to do so and it wasn't long before the master of ceremonies, a Goa'uld that Nimue recognized as Osiris, stepped forward to begin the event in earnest.

The man began a long proclamation of Ra's accomplishments and how it justified his rule.

_Ugh. Does Ra honestly think he's convincing anyone with all that rubbish? _Nimue thought with disgust at this example of even more self-aggrandizement on Ra's part. Tuning him out, she instead mulled angrily over the tribute demands Ra made of her.

He'd forced her to hand over the designs for her plasma beam emitters and shroud generators. She'd made a show of reluctance but ultimately obliged. Not that it was a particularly great loss on her part. Her plasma beams were due for an upgrade soon anyways if Baltet's reports were to be believed. And as for the shroud generators, while she had surrendered the designs she had not provided him with the understanding of the magicite that made them functional in the first place. Which essentially made the schematics useless as he lacked the means to produce magicite.

She might have worried about the latter point since with Earth under his control, it was entirely possible he would stumble upon a proto-wizard and through study of the poor human's magic figure it out. However, he'd controlled the world of her birth for centuries now and there was no sign of him even so much as hearing of the existence of magic. A fact that Nimue strongly suspected was the result of the Ascended acting to protect their descendants.

Her little trick hadn't gone unnoticed. She _knew _that Ra was fully aware of what she had done. Despite that however, he nevertheless accepted her tribute graciously. To him, the actual tributes were a secondary concern. His primary goal was the political symbolism he gained from being able to extract tribute in the first place.

Nimue was still seething over his gall to do just that when Ra finally made his appearance. Dressed in an outfit studded with holographic emitters that projected the image of a raging inferno and making him seem like a walking sun, he strode out of a tunnel and onto the arena floor like some kind of conquering hero.

As the program for the event required, Nimue joined everyone else as they knelt before him.

_Seriously!? Is there no end to his obsession with symbolism and dramatics? _Nimue inwardly scoffed. _Well, I guess that it's to my benefit that he's all about the bluster. This will just make him easier for me to overthrow._

For in the end to Nimue, Ra for all his power was little more than another stepping stone on her quest to once again have Ganos at her side.

Nevertheless…

_I'll enjoy seeing you burn._

* * *

**And that's it folks! The first book in this series is done!**

**I hope you've liked it so far and will continue reading. There's a little interlude next that's full of foreshadowing, but beyond that I'm done for now.**

**Before I go however, I'd like to rant a little over a number of sometimes rather nasty reviewers, many being guests whose reviews I just delete for being full of little more than profanity, who don't read trigger warnings and then proceed to say disparaging things about me or this story just because it includes elements they disagree with. I am of course talking about the rape in Chapter 2. That said, I have no sympathy for such people and am indeed quite angry at them. I've clearly included trigger warnings at the start of the relevant chapters even though I don't even agree with the concept yet having ignored the warnings these people proceed to use the plot concept that I've _explicitly_ warned about beforehand to tear me and my writing down? That is wholly unacceptable.**

**Alright rant over. Just needed to get that off my chest.**

**Oh! Another thing! I've decided to try to post daily. I mainly had delayed so as to give time for reviews to come in so as to see if there's any need to edit future chapters but since there has been a steady stream ****regardless I don't think it's necessary. I can't guarantee I can release every day, but I'll make the effort.**

**Till next time, peace.**


	11. Interlude: The Albion Stellar Empire I

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Book 1: The Apotheosis of a Lost Child**

**Interlude: The Albion Stellar Empire - Part 1**

**Beta:  
**

* * *

**About this blog:**

Hi there everyone, my name is Hermione Granger and welcome to The Galacticpolitics Blog.

This little blog is where I intend to provide a brief rundown of the various galactic powers, both major and minor, as I understand them. As someone with privileged access to some of the most important people in the galaxy -Well, one of them but being Nimue's friend opens plenty of doors- I find that it's my duty to do my part in educating the public about how galacticpolitics works.

Before anything else though let me just say that I'm honored beyond measure to have had the privilege to have been Nimue's childhood friend and even more so to be able to call her a friend once more after everything that has happened between us. And before anyone asks, no I will _not _be providing details. What happened is private and between us. I'm not telling! So Luna please stop spamming my mailbox!

But this blog isn't about my relationships. Still looking for the right man, by the way. Though any who do apply has to go through screening by my best friend, Nimue. Anyone who thinks they can survive that I'm more than happy to refer you.

With that out of the way, let's get down to what you readers probably came her for: the galacticpolitics!

For my first post, let's begin with the polity I've perhaps the most privileged access to: The Albion Star Empire.

**The Albion Star Empire**

The Early History of the Albion Star Empire

The history of the Albion Star Empire is intrinsically linked with its ruler, the Mother Empress Nimue. It was she who built this galactic superpower out of nothing. It was her indomitable will that forged in within the furnace of unending war that was the old Goa'uld Empire and led its rise out of that fallen empire's ashes like a phoenix. Therefore to understand Albion, we must understand Nimue or as she was once known Harry Potter … _To see more click here_

* * *

**And that's the interlude done too.**

**Hope you liked all the foreshadowing it contained.**

**Also I'll be updating the next part of the series immediately after this. It's entitled _The War of Legends - Bats Rising. _I hope to see you there.**

**Review response/broadcast:**

**A reviewer, Hawkmoon888, brought up good critiques in his recent review and it brought up to me the need to temper some expectations. He pointed out, rightly in my opinion, that my supporting characters and the locales I use are poorly developed resulting in lack of investment in regards to what happens to them. That this undermines the story as an empire building fic. In response to this I would just like to point out that to me this story isn't an empire building fic, it is _about Nimue_. Everything else, be it supporting characters or locations, are just veneers to to that story. ****Perhaps that's an oversight, but so be it. I'm pretty sure if I expanded on these things I'd get bogged down and this story would never have seen the light of day. Frankly, I'd rather have a subpar work published than an abandoned project sitting in my Google Drive.**

**Till next time, ciao.**


	12. Bonus 1: Growing up in the Water Palace

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate or Battlestar Galactica.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Vignettes in Nimue's Domain**

**Bonus #1: Growing up in the Water Palace**

**Beta: **

* * *

**Welcoming Mother**

It was late at night in a darkened bedroom and its two eight year old occupants were hiding behind the tapestry by the door to their bedroom as they sensed their mother approach. The girls' mother had been away for months on business and the young girls had missed her dearly.

That was why even though they _knew _they should be sleeping, they were going to surprise their mother. Hence, why they were hiding.

"She's coming," Rose whispered excitedly to her twin as their mother's presence in their mind got ever closer.

Aster just nodded, equally excited.

Just then the door to their room slid open and a sliver of light spill into their otherwise darkened bedroom. The shadow of a woman blocked some of the light from the corridor and soon resolved into the form of the girls' beloved mother, Nimue.

"Now where have my little darlings gone?" Nimue asked playfully as her eyes roamed everywhere but where the two girls were hiding.

Stifling their giggles, the girls used their hands to count down to three before launching themselves at their mother.

Nimue didn't even pretend to be surprised, instead with a smile on her face she caught the two girls with her arms spread wide and pulled them into a hug.

"There you are Rose, Aster." Nimue greeted her daughters lovingly as she planted kisses on their foreheads.

"Welcome home, mum~!" The twins chorused delightedly.

* * *

**Welcoming Father**

The eleven year old twins of Nimue hurried through the halls of their mother's palace as they made their way to join her for dinner. They two identical twins were even more identical than usual today, as in a bid to trick their mother, they choose to dress identically for the occasion.

_I honestly don't think it'll work. _Aster thought as they walked through the richly decorated palace halls. _Mother has never failed to tell us apart._

Even so, her twin Rose had insisted it would be fun to try again regardless. Without any real reason not to do so, Aster had ultimately decided to humor her sister and play along.

"We're here, Mother." Rose declared for them as they reached the dining room at last.

"Come in girls." Their mother replied through the closed oak doors.

_That's odd. Usually Mother would have at least asked someone to open the doors for us. _Aster thought as she pushed the doors open alongside her twin.

As they did, they saw why their Mother had behaved so uncharacteristically. For sitting next to their mother Nimue was another woman, their father Ganos Lal! A sight that had the two children freezing in shock.

"Good evening girls," Mother said with amusement clear in her voice. "As you can see your father is joining us tonight. Her day to visit us was changed this year. So I decided to use it as a chance to surprise you."

Aster listened with only half a mind to her Mother's explanation. The woman had barely finished when the reality of the situation registered for her and she threw herself across the room and into her father's arms. Rose right beside her as they glomped their long missed father tight.

"Hello Aster, Rose," Father greeted them patting them one of them on the head as he said each name. Except…

"Ganos dear, you got the twins' mixed up." Mother said with a chuckle that had Father blushing crimson and the girls themselves giggling into the folds of their father's dress.

* * *

**Teenage Squabbles**

It was a beautiful summer day in the New Water Palace on Londinium and the teenage twins of the planet's ruler had decided it was the perfect weather to just spend time relaxing in one of the palace's many gardens. Aster, as usual for overly studious twin, was reading a treatise on how to be a good ruler recovered from the ruins of Tobin civilization that the Goa'uld destroyed on her tablet device. In contrast, Rose was having a much more fun time playing a wargame on her own device, complete with holographic display and loud sound effects.

"Rose, cut that out," Aster cried out in frustration when the noise finally got to her. "Can't you see that I'm trying to read?"

"Go somewhere else then," Rose shot back. "You have the whole palace open to you."

"But I like this spot. And I got here first." Aster argued, stomping her foot angrily.

"That isn't an argument! The palace is huge! Surely you can find another comfortable spot."

"If you think so, then why don't you move then?"

"Because I like it here."

"Well so do I!"

The twins glared at each other, both unwilling to back down.

The stalemate was broken when Aster raised her right hand and gathered power into it that she proceeded to lob at Rose's tablet as an energy bolt, destroying it.

"Aster!" Rose shouted, furious, even as she conjured a set of vines and sent them to strangle her twin.

Aster, the bitch, danced away from the vines and continued lobbing energy bolts at her, which Rose was forced to conjure a wall of vines to shield herself against.

"Lady Aster, Lady Rose! Please stop!" The various guards shouted as they tried to step between the feuding girls or otherwise intervene.

Neither girl was willing to let them. With a thought, Rose conjured a new set of vines that ensnared half the interfering guards even as Aster proceeded to deal with the rest by trapping them in energy bubbles.

It was thus to this scene of bedlam that Nimue arrived.

"**Stop!" **Nimue boomed in the inhuman voice of the Goa'uld.

Both twins recognized that voice instantly and froze. Turning to their angry looking mother, they couldn't meet her eyes and looked away shamefaced. All whilst released the various guards they'd incapacitated.

"What happened here?" The Ascended Goa'uld demanded.

"I was annoying Aster while she was reading with my game," Rose began. "She confronted me and-

"I went overboard and destroyed Rose's tablet with an energy blast." Aster cut in, trying to take the blame.

"And that led to the chaos earlier?" Nimue asked, incredulous.

"Well, we ended up fighting after that." Rose admitted.

Nimue turned to one of the previously ensnared guards for confirmation and received a nod in reply. This just caused her to close her eyes in exasperation and take a harsh breath in dismay.

"Both of you are at fault here then," Mother concluded with a frown. "That being the case, I'm grounding the both of you. No device time outside of lessons for the next week and you're restricted to the palace for the same duration.

Both twins just nodded contritely.

"Now apologize to each other."

"Sorry Aster/Rose." The twins said at the same time.

This earned amused smiles from both of them, but they smothered them immediately as their mother cleared her throat.

"Now you'll both help clean up this mess you've created then head back to your rooms immediately." Nimue ordered. "Is that clear?"

"Yes, mother." The twins chorused obediently.

* * *

**Blending**

Aster and Rose, now grown women, stood before a large pool in the depths of the New Water Palace that was full of their Goa'uld siblings all ready to select a host. Their mother was standing on the water in the middle of the pool and addressed them.

"Girls, what you're about to do is a big step. Choosing to bond with one of your Goa'uld siblings is a life-long commitment. Are they truly willing to do so?"

"Yes," both twins declared confidently as they took a step towards the pool.

Nodding in satisfaction, Nimue turned to the pool and using her booming Goa'uld voice addresses the teeming masses of creatures within.

"**My symbiote children! I've shared all I know about my human daughters with you. As they enter into this pool and offer themselves to you to serve as your hosts, may those willing come forward. And may the fittest of those, bear the honour of becoming their other halves!"**

With that she turned back to the twins and nodded.

Aster exchanged a look with Rose out of the corner of her eye, and received an encouraging nod in reply.

_I'm ready. _Aster told herself as she took one last deep breath before she confidently walked side by side with her twin into the pool.

As she stepped into the water, she could feel her many eager siblings swarm around her as she descended the steps built into the pool's edge. It might have repulsed or scared some girls. The Goa'uld were very snake like and were coated in a layer of slime. But Aster had grown up around the creatures and these were her siblings besides. She was not at all afraid or unsettled by them.

As she stepped deeper into the pool, the Goa'uld pulled away, choosing to circle her and Rose at a distance instead in what she understood to be in the interest of fairness. Like their mother said, this was a competition of sorts for their siblings. Only the fittest among them would get the chance to bond with them.

When she'd walked till the water reached her chin, she took one deep breath and sneaked another look at Rose before she opened her mouth and dipped her head into the water.

Her Goa'uld brothers and sisters immediately shot towards her like bullets, each one vying to be the first to reach her and become her host. It therefore took only a handful of seconds before one shot into her mouth and with a small pinprick of pain, burrowed through the back of her throat so it could wrap itself around her spine

As her new symbiote attached itself, Aster felt a new presence gently settle itself into her mind and in a gentle voice ask her for permission to take control.

With a mental smile, Aster handed over control of their now shared body

Watching from the metaphorical back seat, Aster watched as her new Goa'uld half lifted their head and following ancient tradition let their eyes flare white and spoke in the booming voice of her kind.

"**My name is Kalise."**

_Hello Kalise, _Aster sent with a mental giggle. _May we get along well._

_We will. _Her other half assured her.

Meanwhile, Rose's own new symbiote had likewise finished settling into her twin's body and lifted her head.

"**My name is Eldina,**" her sister declared.

"**Welcome, Kalise, Eldina, to adulthood.**" Mother offered with a proud grin.

* * *

**A goodbye**

The twins stood in the Morgana Spaceport on Londinium as Rose prepared to depart on one of the many Ha'taks busily loading up supplies on the facility's extensive tarmac.

"I guess this is goodbye for now," Aster offered, causing Rose to roll her eyes at her sister.

_Must Aster always be so melodramatic? _Eldina sent, with a mental groan.

_Don't judge her too harshly, _Eldina offered. _You know she's the sentimental sort. This is in her nature._

_That doesn't make it any less annoying. _Rose shot back.

She let none of her frustration show on her face as she pulled her sister into a hug.

"It's only a tour of duty on the borders, sister." Rose reminded her twin. "Not even a contested one. Nothing's likely to happen. So don't worry, I'll be back in a couple of months. Tops."

"I'll always worry." Aster insisted.

"**We'll always worry."** Kalwart corrected, the slight dip of her head before she spoke and the tilt to the left signifying just which of her sister's three personalities was speaking.

"Well, don't." Eldarose replied, giving the appropriate signal of who was replying as well. "We can take care of ourselves."

"I don't doubt that, but we still worry." Kalwart informed them seriously.

Eldarose just sighed.

"Kalwart, that's enough." Their mother insisted as she came over to lay a comforting hand on the aforementioned daughter's shoulder. "As your sister says, she's fully capable of taking care of herself. So stop being a worrywart and let her leave to do her duty."

Kalwart pouted but nevertheless nodded and stepped behind their mother.

"I'll make you proud, mother." Rose said, indicating her control by tilting her head upwards.

"You already have," Nimue assured her. "Just go do your duty and come home safely."

"I will mother," Eldarose replied offering the System Lord a salute.

Nimue returned the salute before gesturing towards Eldarose's waiting senior officers.

Nodding in reply and sending one last reassuring look to her twin, Eldarose turned and walked towards her officers.

_I'll make Mother proud. I will. _Eldarose thought, her other personalities offering their wordless agreement.

* * *

**Bureaucracy**

Aster sat in her office in the administrative wing of the New Water Palace working through the seemingly endless stream of bureaucratic documents that had ended up in her inbox awaiting her attention as part of her duties as one of her Mother's administrators.

She was interrupted when her secretary walked in and deposited a tray of food on her desk.

"Is it lunch already?" Kalise asked in surprise.

"Yes," the younger woman replied with a long suffering sigh. "Honestly, my lady, you need to keep better track of time. What would you do without me to remind you to eat?"

"Probably skip meals and work till I pass out," Kalise confessed even as she saved her work and dismissed the hardlight displays of her computer. "You're a lifesaver."

The secretary just shook her head. "Well, enjoy your lunch, mam. I'm going to grab my own. Just leave the empty tray on my desk when you're done, I'll have one of the servants clear it."

"Thank you," Kalwart offered as she dug into the delicious meal the kitchens had provided her today and offered her departing secretary a lazy wave.

_We really should take better care of ourselves. _Aster noted with a mental frown.

_Agreed. _Kalise added. _Before Mother gets worried._

_Like she isn't already? We all know she picked out our secretary on purpose because she knew she'd do stuff like this. _Kalwart reminded.

_Okay, make her worry less. _Aster corrected herself.

_New resolution? _Kalise asked.

_New resolution. _Kalwart agreed.

_Then it's settled. _Aster concluded. _We'll try to stop skipping meals from now onwards._

* * *

**Taking stock**

Vivian curled into Ganos' side as they both lay back on the headboard of their decadent four poster bed in their bedroom in the New Water Palace. Vivian had just finished sharing how the girls had taken on positions within her domain, with Rose joining her navy as an officer and Aster by becoming a bureaucrat in her administration.

"The girls are all grown up, huh?" Ganos opined with a wistful sigh. "It seemed like just yesterday that they were trying to confuse me as to who was who."

"Well, it has been decades," Vivian told her lover gently. "Little girls tend to grow over that kind of stretch of time."

"I know," Ganos said, sounding sad. "And I've missed so much of that time in their lives."

"It's not your fault," Vivian assured her.

"Maybe, but it will still be something that I'll always regret."

"Don't think about it too much, my love." Vivian said worriedly. "It won't do you any good."

"I know, I know."

"Enough sadness," Vivian said insistently as she pushed her lover back onto the bed. "I don't see you anywhere near enough to let it tarnish our time together."

"And what would you like to remember our time together by instead?" Ganos asked coyly.

Nimue's answer was to lean down and kiss her lover.

* * *

**So I did this mainly in response to PeterJAC's suggestion to write some sidestories to flesh out lacking bits in this Book. As I said in my initial response to him in Book 2's Chapter 3, I actually have sidestories written previously set later in the verse's timeline that addresses some, though admittedly not all, of the issues raised about missing details. That said, since it's such a concern I've come up with this to tide people over.**

**It's not proofread as throughly as my normal chapters, so errors are probably everywhere. More so than usual. Do let me know if you spot any.**

**Till then, ciao~!**


	13. Bonus 2: A Day in Gryffindor City

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate or Battlestar Galactica.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Vignettes in Nimue's Domain**

**Bonus Two: A Day in Gryffindor City **

**Beta: **

* * *

One typical autumn day saw the Jaffa Ma'toc walking down the many winding streets of the tightly packed houses of Gryffindor CIty as he enjoyed his day off deeply enjoyed his duty as a Lake Knight, one of the goddess' elites, but he equally enjoyed the time she gave to her soldiers to themselves. A luxury that few, if any, of the other System Lords offered their warriors when they were on active service.

Admittedly, when not called to arms Jaffa tended to be free to do whatever they wanted. But when called to war by their masters, they were expected to drop everything and serve unquestioningly. Considering the nigh endless wars that most Goa'uld fought, this meant that once called to service, a Jaffa would often never be released to go home ever again.

Things were a little different in the goddess' domain. Here, while all citizens, man and woman, Jaffa or human, were trained in the basics of service and served for a time to hone those skills. Only a core of volunteers served on anything resembling a permanent basis and even then with fixed terms of service, though these were subject to extension based on need or by the voluntary choice of the serviceman, most returned home only after a handful of years. All others were considered reservists and only called to service when necessary. This was a system that bolstered morale tremendously and often made the Lady's armies some of the most motivated forces in the entire Goa'uld Empire.

The love of the Lady that such policies fostered was why his destination was so crowded.

As always the Grand Temple of Nimue was full of throngs of devotees. So packed was it that it looked like a literal sea of human bodies filled the gargantuan black marble structure.

_I was right to use the further Ring Station. _Ma'toc mused as he joined the snaking crowds that were seeking entrance inside. _If I'd use the one nearest the temple, I'm liable to be crushed by the mob._

Despite his lofty station, which probably would have allowed him to cut his way through the crowds if he so wished, Ma'toc chose to walk through the masses of people just like any other worshipper as they walked in orderly procession through the elaborate entry hall of the temple, with its many stories tall columns covered with a multitude of carvings depicting all manner of scenes glorifying the Lady.

He marched in silent, contemplative lock step with the other faithful as they entered the temple proper and passed the many sculptures dedicated to Lady Nimue's beliefs, even as dedicated priests stood on podiums before the statues and recited from memory verse after verse of the Lady's holy sayings.

Following the procession, Ma'toc made it to the heart of the temple where a massive statue of the Lady stood staring down on her devoted believers with a look that blended imperious authority and caring love. Joining the many others kneeling before the statue, the Jaffa offered his prayers to his goddess.

_Oh great Lady of the Lake, please bless this humble servant with your divine power so that he may better serve your will. _Ma'toc prayed before he began the long ritual prayers taught by the Lady's priests.

* * *

Two hours later, Ma'toc stepped out of the Rings at the Ring Transport Station located in the courtyard of the residential complex in Gryffindor's suburbs where he lived.

He was just barely half across the yard when the sound of the Rings activating behind him has him glancing back, only to see the Rings deposit a crowd of schoolchildren returning home from the local primary school.

The cute little mob spotted him immediately and with cries of "Master Ma'toc" he was soon surrounded by a sea of children dressed in the white shorts, shorts and pleated tartan skirts of their school uniforms.

As a Lake Knight, Ma'toc was something of a local celebrity in his residential district hence the reception. Not that he minded the children's adulation. As the Lady said, children were previous and all should treat them with the best possible care.

It was with this divine teaching in mind that he proceeded to lead the crowd of young kids over to a bench by the courtyard's playground and entertain them with sanitized stories of his missions for the Lady.

* * *

Another hour and a dozen stories later, Ma'toc was finally able to extricate himself from the children as their parents finished collecting all the rascals with calls for lunch and homework. This finally allowed him to finish his much delayed trip home.

Walking into his apartment in one of the blocks overlooking the courtyard, Ma'toc allowed his eyes a moment to adjust to the artificial lighting after his long time out in the sun.

Once his vision had returned to normal, he slipped off his cloak and shoes before drifting into his small kitchen to prepare some lunch.

Flicking on the radio, the Jaffa allowed the pleasant music of the type the Lady insisted was called classical music fill his apartment, whilst he cut some meat and bread for some simple sandwiches. Finished preparing his meal, he turned the radio off and carried the food over to the living room.

"Holoscreen on. Hogwarts News Network." Ma'toc ordered as he settled in front of the wall where his holo projector was already throwing up the image of the Lady's official news station.

* * *

After a nice relaxing lunch at home, Ma'toc headed to the city's venerable Old Barracks. A building that's stood since the planet was first settled by the Lady and after being let through the security check, he walked through the building nodding occasionally to the odd fellow Jaffa that he recognised as he passed.

Stepping into the courtyard at the building's heart, he scanned it a moment before smiling as he saw that one of the training rings was empty. Jogging over before anyone could claim it, he breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped inside before another, younger Jaffa did.

"Join me, young man?" Ma'toc offered the younger soldier.

"Unarmed, Master?" The younger man asked as she stepped into the ring.

"For now, yes."

Nodding the younger soldier charged at Ma'toc.

* * *

A long, tiring but fulfilling practice later, Ma'toc joined a number of fellow Jaffa he met during his afternoon training at the Old Barracks as they had a meal at a local beer hall. As expected of their locale, everyone was drinking copious amounts of alcohol of various descriptions as they enjoy their meal of freshly cooked boar. All that is, except Ma'toc.

"Master, I know you have duty tomorrow but surely you can just have someone use a healing device to get over any hangover you get." The young man he'd first sparred with earlier in the afternoon suggested.

"Perhaps, my friend," Ma'toc hedged. "But I'd rather not set a bad precedent. I'm a Lake Knight. One of the Lady's elites. I will not besmirch our reputation just to enjoy one night's revelry."

"Leave the Master alone, boy." A slightly older Jaffa added. "You'll understand his way when you reach his level."

"I look forward to it," the young soldier said. "To my eventual admission into the Lake Knights!"

The others chuckled but humored the young man by clinking their glasses with him in a toast.

Doing the same with his own glass of juice, Ma'toc shook his head at the younger soldier's enthusiasm. Aided by drink or not, such an attitude was praiseworthy.

"And I hope to see the day that you live up to that boast, young man." Ma'toc offered the boy with a grin.

"Count on it, Master."

Ma'toc just chuckled.

The rest of the meal went as it always did, full of boastful stories and bawdy tales. Until at last, the men grew too tired to continue and in ones and twos trickled back to their homes or bunks for the night. Ma'toc himself was the last to leave. As the only sober man in the group, he had appointed himself the duty of making sure everyone got home safe by arranging so that the more sober members escorted their more inebriated counterparts home.

Thus it was late at night before he returned to his apartment and got ready for bed.

_Today was a good day. Boring but nice. _The Lake Knight thought to himself as he changed into his sleepwear. A simple pair of comfortable linen pants. _But it is over now. Time to sleep. I'm on duty tomorrow._

With that last reminder, he slipped under the covers of his bed and retired for the night.

* * *

**Yet another quick bonus to try and flesh out some details reviewers have found lacking in Book 1. **

**Again, this isn't proofread very well so please do inform me if there are any mistakes I made.**

**Reminder: There is a, at this point, near complete sequel entitled ****The Wars of Legends - Bats Rising. ****If you want to continue reading the story please do give it a read.**

**Till next time, adieu~!**


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